Like Ribbons Caught in the Wind
by HybridKiller
Summary: What if an apology is not enough? When the Titans and the HIVE Trio struggle to understand that fragile division between good and evil...and what it means to be a friend. Slight Love Triangle: JinxRae, JinxGiz, BBRae.
1. Book I: Prologue

**Like Ribbons Caught in the Wind**

Book I: Prologue

* * *

The bottoms of her bare feet slid against the slick stone of the dungeon floor. She could hear the faint echo of her feet slapping in the distance. Jinx clutched her arms and burrowed her hands into her armpits as she slid across the room. She shivered and her jaw began to chatter. Her hot breath lingered in the air, before mixing with the shadows.

The cylindrical cell was in the shape of a large dome, many arm lengths long in any direction. The room resembled a large cave, with dark chocolate walls and gray stones beneath her feet. The only source of light was a rickety fixture dangling on a long, electric cord. The dim light bulb gave off a weak, shimmering glow that barely illuminated the room. A half-crescent metal dish surrounded the light bulb, funneling the light downward, subsequently blocking out the ceiling. Her eyes felt sore as they continually tried to adjust to the dark prison gloom. As she cast her gaze to the sky, her eyes met only darkness.

In the distance, she could hear the faint sound of dripping water. Was it her imagination? She listened closer. Jinx took a few steps forward, trying to pinpoint the direction of the noise. Her search seemed futile, as the sound came from everywhere—and nowhere—all at once. It was loud and soft, relentless and faint. She felt disoriented and dizzy, with a growing headache. The smell was sharp and made her stomach clench, and the tight atmosphere made it hard to breathe. The walls seemed to overpower her senses.

Jinx inspected the various surfaces of her confinement. She found it frustrating that the room had no doors, or windows. There were no bars to bend, or slots to slide through food. The rocky walls had a seamless connection, as if they were constructed from a single piece of material. It was as if someone had slammed a giant bowl of stone over the girl, trapping her like a household spider. The more Jinx considered her imprisonment, the more she felt uneasy.

She knew nothing of the events or the details that led up to her capture. As hard as she tried, she felt absentminded and aimless, as if her thoughts had not yet collected. It had only been an hour, maybe less, since she awoke in a slight daze. She found herself sprawled out on the floor having no recollection of her potential crimes, unaware of how she got into the seemingly impenetrable prison, or why she was trapped. The drab and dreary gray uniform of a high-profile criminal clung tightly around the girl's small frame. Her pink hair, caked with dirt, lay limp around her shoulders. She hated that slimey feel of the tips of her hair, brushing against her shoulders. If not for her usual twin ponytails that held her hair up, she would have cut her hair long ago.

Her mind tried to make sense of the visual cues in front of her—the endless rock, windowless walls, shadowed ceiling, discolored floor—but they did not add up. If there was no entrance, how did she get into the cell in the first place? From where had she entered? How had they transported her sleeping body to this hellhole? Who had removed her clothes and dressed her in prison wear? Jinx shivered at the thought of being so vulnerable. While she slept, she had been weak enough to be overpowered and placed in the literal definition of hell. _Who did it?_ She wondered, thinking through what little clues she had. Her captor must have had the tactile skill required to outmaneuver a top HIVE operative, and trap her in a dark-filled world.

Jinx chewed on her bottom lip and felt the sharp pain radiate out from the surface of her skin as she rotated her body to spun in circles. Her eyes traced the insurmountable walls with care. Simple logic stated: if there is a way in, there must be a way out. Escape was the only option. She had to find it. Failure was not acceptable. She would not let her pride be marred by simple trickery, or novice police-work.

However, the walls seemed real enough. The unmistakable rock was certainly there. Jinx raised her left foot off the chilled stone, rubbing her toes between both her hands. When enough warmth filled her numbed digits, she let her foot fall back to the ground, and began to rub the other. The villainous girl was tied to the uncomfortable ground; cold reinforced the slight twinge of loneliness that the empty room provided.

She could hear the faint sound of dripping water clicking in the background.

* * *

"_But Jinx, this is serious…If we go through with this…there's no turnin' back…"_

* * *

Jinx tried to locate North or South, but found that the rounded walls made it impossible to denote unique features or identifiable landmarks. Everything looked the same, and after spinning casually in a circle, she found herself unable to determine which part of the curved wall she had originally faced. Her only landmark cues were the very items that resided in her cell, as few and far between as they were.

In the center of the room lay a pile of thin blankets and a hard pillow. Jinx walked over to her apparent bed and gripped the bedding. It was enough for sleep, but hardly capable of keeping out the cold. The paper-thin sheets of material seemed brittle; she wondered if they would rip if she thrashed about in her sleep too roughly. Apparently, a proper mattress with cold-resistant bedding was more than what she deserved. The very stone below her chilled toes would press up against her vulnerable back as she tried to slumber.

"Those idiot Titans should be more considerate!" She spat in irritation. A violent shiver escaped her body. "I'm freezing in here! It's like fifty degrees! I only get a shitty blanket and a horrible fashion statement to keep me warm...?" Jinx groaned with frustration.

The girl let her eyes shut, pleading for memories to freely enter her thoughts. Her past might have clues to her escape, and if she could just recall the agonizing events of the day that evaded her, she might be able to procure progress.

_Was I alone, or with Gizmo and Mammoth?_ The acrobat couldn't remember.

_Was I wrongly accused, or guilty?_ It was a question she didn't need to answer. She was the best; a brilliant criminal. She obviously did it. Whatever it was, she must have been responsible and it must have been amazing.

_But what did I do? Who are my accusers? Who did I harm?_ Jinx inhaled, and choked on the acrid smell of moldy air. With a bitter sigh, she listened to the slow drip of water echoing in the distance.

* * *

_The faint wisps of a night walk lined her memory. Maybe she was climbing up a building, or perhaps it was a junkyard. No, she was running. Panting. Diving under branches, hopping over rocks. Stumbling into the dark. The stark, unforgettable color of red. _

_The barren landscape was her fault._

* * *

Jinx began to test the width of her cell. She started from one part of the wall and walked to the other side. Taking relatively large steps, she determined the diameter was about thirteen strides long. She tested the height of her cell in a similar fashion. The pink haired teen outstretched her hand and reached to the fading sky. She flicked her wrist as she hopped as high as she possibly could. Only air met her fingertips. Her face turned a slight shade of red when her toes landed on the ground, embarrassed at performing such an ungraceful and belittling action. However, it was something she had to know. Her arms were much too short to grab the dangling light overhead. She wasn't even close.

Jinx lightly gripped one of the walls to see if she could gain any footing if she tried to climb. The slanted walls made this task neigh impossible. Even if she found a few places to grip, the walls tilted inward. This would force her to fight against gravity as she climbed higher. It was within the realm of possibility, but scaling a wall upside-down was never an easy task. With no hand grips and equally no motivation, it would be a wasted effort.

_How do I get out of here?_ She thought quietly to herself. _Those shit Titans did a good job, eh? If standard methods don't work, I'll just need a new angle…_

* * *

_She was restless. Her body yearned to be free. The feeling of confinement kept her soul locked in misery, like a caged bird who could only stare out into the endless night._

_She bit her bottom lip and began to count the individual stones in the floor. Her voice echoed in the silent air, "…sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven…" She abruptly stopped when she realized what she was doing. _

"_Dammit…! What am I doing? I have to focus. There must be a way out..."_

* * *

Jinx's well-manicured fingers pressed up against the hard stone surface. She straightened her bent elbows, and used her toned muscles to propel her body from a handstand into a graceful aerial flip. As she rotated and spun in the air, the rough pillows of wind clung to her prison clothes. Jinx made a perfect landing with her knees straight and hands outstretched. She let out a held breath and sucked in more air, before she leaned into a series of cartwheels. Acrobatics helped keep Jinx's mind at ease. She hated sitting or pacing idly. Slothful laziness only made her thoughts stagnate, and might undo her cute, feminine figure. The more she danced in the dark room, the more she came to understand her new surroundings.

The sway of her hips rocked closer and farther from the walls. The pads of her feet learned the contours of the ground. As the girl danced, the tips of her disgusting hair brushed awkwardly against her shoulders. Her fingertips sliced through the murky air and her shoulders relaxed.

She spent maybe an hour or more enjoying her exercise. Glistening sweat lined her scantily clad body. She was exhausted, but she felt better for it. She had grown used to training under tight spaces, learning to scale small alleyways and navigating sewers. It wasn't the most glamorous work, but it was a necessary hurdle that a good criminal needed to face. She hated dirt and grime, but she hated failing even more. The villain must stoop to even the most extremes of circumstances in the game of survival.

Jinx came to rest with her eyes closed. One of the limitations of her cell was a lack of light. The darkness kept things murky and unknown. Without an accurate mental image of her bondage, it would be nearly impossible to plan an escape. Fortunately, she had a natural gift for understanding movement and the physical constructs of space. Although she could not see the walls with her eyes, her body could adapt to these limitations through trial and error. Like an acrobat who is so accustomed to a balance beam that she can flip in the air and land on it with a blindfold, Jinx felt like she had a good sense of the room's shape and composition. She could feel the room, without a reliance on vision.

After a long few hours of training, she felt as if she had returned to her natural, calculating state of mind, with a new valuable trait. The shadows would no longer be her detriment. They would be her strength.

She briskly wiped sweat off her brow, and returned to the main matter at hand.

_Escape._

The pink haired girl shook her head at the thought of digging her way out. It was a natural first thought, but her mind screamed _bad idea_.

She could almost imagine being locked away in a small alcove buried deep inside a large mountain. In actuality, no such mountain existed in close proximity of Jump City. Jinx knew her fantasy couldn't possibly be true. More likely, she was far below Jump City's East Penitentiary, locked away in a new kind of dungeon designed specifically to combat her powers. She was potentially miles underground, forgotten in a cell designed just for her. She was alone, and far away from the other guards or prisoners. The odds that she could communicate with a fellow inmate, or subdue a guard, were highly unlikely. The social aspect of prisondom seemed to be sourly lacking this time around. Of course, she had come to expect nothing less of her adversaries. They always found new and exciting ways to keep her locked up tight. Then again, they had a resounding zero percent success record. She was a top HIVE operative after all, and she had a reputation to maintain. All it took was a little bit of knowledge and she could escape literally anything. It probably didn't hurt that she had a lean, athletic body with supernatural powers.

The girl sat down, letting her back rest against the rough prison wall. Jinx hugged her knees into her chest. She looked down at the stone floor and began to calculate the usefulness of her powers. Although she had the ability to destroy and dissolve ordinary rock, her powers were not designed to bulldoze her way through thick and vast slabs of material. Instead, her powers were best apt toward weakening the base of already flimsy designs. Her powers—_a serious case of bad luck_—had the ability to cause malfunctions or misfires. The pink energy could heat up objects, manipulate hard surfaces or even eat through solid steel. Unfortunately, her powers had a few limitations. The energy took a lot of endurance to maintain, and higher concentrations of her power were difficult to control. Cram a lot of bad luck in close proximity, and it would surely backfire. In other words, it wasn't realistic to brute force her way through stone like a jackhammer.

Robin definitely knew these limitations. If the Titans were behind this lock-up, Jinx knew they would utilize her weaknesses to design the prison cell. She could be sure the 'easy-way-out' would be hard to find. Jinx would have to be more creative. In this case, the most obvious choice would be to dig her way out, so her opponents almost assuredly expected her to attempt it. Unfortunately, if they expected it, they definitely had a countermeasure and a plan against it. So, it made sense to assume digging would already have been considered a potential escape-mechanism, and thusly countered.

Jinx frowned. If she really was a fair distance underground, it's possible she was low enough that the rock was many miles deep in any horizontal direction. Throw in diagonals, and there were too many possibilities to calculate. There were so many wrong turns, or potential dead-ends. A thousand miles in the wrong direction would be a fruitless endeavor, and it is equally possible she could cause a cave-in, or dig into a deadly stream and flood herself. She would waste a lot of physical energy even to make a few yards of progress, and there was no guarantee such efforts would be productive. Such energy would be better suited for an alternative escape.

Jinx decided to look for a crack or a weak point, and strategize from there.

She looked.

She failed.

There were no cracks. There were no seams. There were no loose bricks, holes or ledges. It was all rock; it was all solid.

Jinx glared at the seemingly impossible nature of her imprisonment. "Okay Jinx, think this through. Start at square one. How the hell did they get me in here? No doors. No gaps in the walls." She looked down at her nail polish and flicked her fingers. They seemed sluggish and numb.

"I still feel dizzy...did they...drug me?" The thought seemed a bit perverse. She had been unconscious, hauled to an unknown place against her will. She had no way of knowing what they might have done to her. Had they injected her with something? What drugs might they have used? Would the effects go away in minutes, hours, or days? Who were 'they'? Was this an official police cell, or a hostage situation?

She clenched her eyes shut and tried as hard as she could to focus on the night before. She could barely see the flash of a cloaked hero. _Raven._ The thought crossed her mind before her eyes lit up. "This has that hideous girl's name all over it. I've seen her phase through walls and carry her friends around. She probably teleported into this place, threw me on the ground, and disappeared like a bitch." The acrobat validated the idea in her mind, before she came up with an answer.

"If Raven's the only way in, then Raven's the only way out. This is no cell. This is a tomb. If this is a tomb...why would they come back?" She thought about it more. The Titans—though cruel and sadistic in their own right—weren't the type of people to self-sentence criminals to death. If they had any intention of killing her, they would have done so many years prior. They would have finished her when they had a chance. Why wait, struggle, and fight for so long, only to end it like this? Raven will definitely come back.

_Right?_

"Ahh, this is so frustrating!" Jinx shouted with clenched fists. Her voice seemed to hang in the air, before dissipating into a faint echo. The girl heaved a deep sigh. She sat roughly on her blanket and pillow, with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She hugged her legs close, letting her eyes wander. She focused on the stone floor.

The stone floor was out of place. Why was it gray? If they had carved her cell out the surrounding rock, the floor should mimic the color of the walls. It should be the same material. Why was it a different kind of stone…a pale and smooth gray instead of a dark, splotchy brown? Why was the flooring paved and not as rocky as the walls? Why artificially created?

"They went through a lot of trouble making this stupid place," She mused. "...Too much trouble for a burial ground. Right?"

* * *

_She remembered flashes of blind anger and rage. She could perhaps hear the faint screams of innocent voices. Had she caused them? Had she intended to cause them? They were questions without an answer._

* * *

Jinx's stomach growled. She was awfully hungry. How might she receive her meals? Would Raven pop in, drop off a dish, and teleport out? If Raven came, would she come defenseless? Jinx considered attacking Raven at first sight, but shrugged the idea off. If Raven really was the only way in and out of her predicament, she couldn't kill that creepy girl. Raven was like a key. You can't break a key in a lock, and expect the door to open later.

Would she come unannounced, or would Raven respectfully knock before entering? If Raven knocked before entering, she would be giving away a very important piece of evidence. Now, ignoring the obvious issue of there being no door—so the likelihood of 'knocking' being applicable was almost nothing—a knock would symbolize the wall's thinnest point. She could then focus all of her power in the direction of the sound, and maybe find a way to penetrate that location. Yes, if Raven knocked, Jinx would have to make a mental note of the direction, and utilize that information when the girl was alone once more.

Jinx's eyes fixated on her bed. "Will I be fed? Will they make me starve?" She wondered aloud.

It seemed like she had waited forever. No signs of contact; her isolation was complete. Jinx hated the idea of waiting as a captive long enough for her first meal. The more she waited and accepted her surroundings, the more the concept of helplessness would set in. Jinx wasn't new to the prison circuit. She had been in many prisons in her lifetime. It was a fundamental rule: the longer you're locked up, the harder it becomes to find a way out. People get accustomed to their surroundings. The obvious becomes normal, and the escape becomes invisible.

She knew the process all too well. At first, a prisoner tests her bindings and struggles against her shackles to break free. But in time, she wastes an unduly amount of effort trying to fight the unbreakable. She loses interest. She begins to accept the shackle as an obvious limitation. She stops struggling under the restraint. It was classical conditioning at its finest. Even if the bindings are later loosened, she might never find out, having already written 'try to break the shackle' off as an impossible option. It was much like training a cow to be confined by a flimsy knee-high wall at birth. The young calf cannot traverse the wall when it is younger and begins to establish the foundation as a mandatory limitation. But, when the calf grows older, the cow gains the ability to easily hop over the restraint. However, well-trained cattle instead accept this flimsy piece of wood as an impenetrable wall, and are thusly trapped by a false sense of perception.

Another common problem was overanalyzing the useless. A prisoner might eye the same crack in the wall a million times, thinking up a new and exciting convoluted plan to escape using that narrow little crack for freedom. Consequently, the prisoner might never have realized the bars were loose. It was the obvious that people overlooked. The obvious was a necessary element to any escape plan. When Jinx escaped normal prison cells, she often abused the simple, and took advantage of the 'impossible.'

There was something obvious she was overlooking. Something so blatantly stupid she wouldn't ordinarily consider it. She knew there had to be a way out. It was just a matter of sifting through all of the clues, until she found the opportunity. "Think Jinx, think…Think, think, think! …" she muttered, bringing her fingers to her mouth. She rubbed her face as she thought. "Everything in this cell has a purpose," she added.

A sadistic smile grew on her face. "Stupid Titans. They don't know it, but they gave me these tools to help me escape." It was a game now. She had made it a game. She loved playing games. "Everything in this cell has a purpose," she repeated. "They paved the floor for a reason. The terrible lighting, for a reason. The flimsy bedding, for a reason." She paused, before closing her lips.

She began to contemplate in her head. 

_How do they work together?_ She traced the mortar between two stones in the floor with the tip of her index finger. Her finger danced against the rocky surface, until she rubbed it raw. _That stupid bucket…the width of the cell…paved floor…there's got to be meaning behind it all. How do I get out of here? _The room grew steadily colder. Jinx wrapped the terrible blanket around her body and snuggled into her pillow. The girl vainly tried to think of a way out as she fought against the chill.

She could use a glass of water.

* * *

_Her eyes narrowed when she saw a small bucket pressed up against one section of the wall. H__er fists shook and her tight knuckles turned white.  
_

_Her voice had cracked, radiating anger. Her teeth clenched as she spoke, "You're…kidding me. Screw that. There will be hell to pay if I find out who has this sense of humor."_

_Apparently, she wasn't missing a toilet._

* * *

It felt like three hours had passed. Jinx was starving now. The girl was beginning to wonder how she would ever receive her meals. 

_Could they forgot I'm here? I'm not in a normal cell. They can't even see me. _Jinx frowned._ Stupid place looks like a tomb. Why would a pharaoh construct shit like this? It's so ugly! Jeez, if you're gunna kill me...at least buy me a pretty casket…! Pink…jewels, lots of flowers…maybe line it with gold...  
_

She hated thinking on an empty stomach. Whenever she got hungry, she would order Gizmo to drop whatever he was doing and get her food. He never got a say in the matter. After all, he was there to serve.

_Where's Gizmo?_ She wondered. _Is he looking for me? Will he find me? I doubt it...he can't do anything right…he really needs my help for a mission like this. _The lonely girl frowned. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was all her fault in some stupid way. Gizmo definitely needed her. Mammoth too. They both relied on her so much…they must be missing her, looking for her, and yet…why did she feel so disgruntled when they came to mind? Why was she upset?

Jinx continued to lie in her makeshift bed. Her head rested on her extremely uncomfortable pillow as she stared up at the dark. The imaginary ceiling looked a lot like a cloudy night sky. The hanging light was like a moon, much too dim to hurt her eyes as she stared deeper into it. There were no stars, but if she squinted, she could almost see the fuzzy outlines of clouds. She played with the idea of a pretend sky, enjoying the darkness-blob-clouds as they flickered by.

"The moon is never that big…" she muttered. Her echoed voice signified the harsh reality of the situation. There was no sky above. Only rock, and a lack of light to see it. The girl closed her eyes and contemplated sleeping.

_I can't think while hungry. I'm not getting anywhere. I need to eliminate my distractions before I make big decisions. I can't risk ruling out a good solution due to laziness..._ she paused, thinking through the implications.

Her mouth felt so dry; her heart stopped a beat as her eyes widened. The thought of being stuck in this place hit her, sudden and unforgiving. She almost felt a bit scared…almost beginning to doubt she would find a way…

_I could wait until Raven comes. Her arrival would open up new possibilities. Hell, the lousy bitch might give me a clue. It's…a possibility…I guess…_

The girl's messy hair stuck to the back of her neck. Dirt flaked onto the pillow. The feeling of grime against her skin digging into cloth made her feel disgusting, yet she snuggled deeper into her stiff pillow. The chill of the rocky floor felt uncomfortably sharp against her numb body. Although she had only a hazy image of the previous night, she knew there must have been a fight. It must have been a humiliating battle for her hair to be littered with dirt. Did Raven slam her into the ground and treat her like a broom? Did she drag her across the floor and flaunt her like a trophy? Did the bitch do something more sinister, something she could not remember? The freak must have. Why else would she feel so filthy?

"If only I could remember...Even I don't deserve something like this..." She muttered to no one in particular as her eyes slid shut. Her breathing began to slow. Her chest rose and fell in a rhythmic beat as the little girl drifted off to sleep. Her fading thoughts were resolute. Whatever had happened, Raven was at fault. The gothic girl was the cause for all of Jinx's problems, and the HIVE FIVE would not stand for it.

Jinx demanded revenge.

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	2. Book I: Chapter I

Book I: Chapter I

* * *

_Flames engulfed the building; bits of glimmering shrapnel slipped into the darkening sky, scattering overhead. She ran, hearing her heavy heart thundering in her ears. She gasped for air; she pumped her legs and strained her calves against the steep, inclined hill. The girl forced her neck backward, watching for signs of movement from behind. She stumbled to a stop and fell to her knees, struggling to catch her breath..._

* * *

The noise was abrupt; sharp and unmistakable. It was the slightest yell that reached his ears and made him pause.

Beast Boy's bare feet slid mere inches from the door. His bare toes braced the chilled air that emanated from within the silent, whispering room. He slipped his ear against the door, listening with held breath. He focused on each noise. Every gulp of air he drew, the meaning of each sentence became less understandable. The words seemed to blend together; prefixes and suffixes were lost once spoken.

The boy jumped back with surprise, landing on his right foot, a bit off balance.

Raven briskly stepped through the door. Her cape haphazardly wrapped around her shoulders, snug like a purple sash. The tips of her hair clung tight around her neck, with her bangs stuck to her forehead.

Beast Boy's eyes trailed the back of her head. A frown grew on his face. Her hair seemed more jagged than normal. Either she had cut it, or it had been cut against her will. He mused at the odd shape of her lavender locks, looking as if a smashed, purple helmet had been glued to her head. Either she had just received 'the most brutal balloon rubbage' he had ever seen, or she had dramatically changed her concept of beauty. Regardless, it was not flattering. His eyes fell upon her clothes. They were grubby and stained with brown. A hole on her uniform, slightly above her right breast, revealed a blackened wound. Singed marks stood out against the hems of her torn cape.

The door to Robin's room slammed shut behind her. Raven turned to meet Beast Boy's face. She stood motionless, staring into Beast Boy's eyes. Her left eyebrow twitched in mild irritation. "You overheard us, didn't you?"

His right hand flew up to the back of his shaggy hair, letting strands slip through his fingers. "Heh-heh, no way, Raven! Notta' word."

"Whatever you heard, ignore it. It doesn't concern you."

His innocent eyes turned into an aggravated glare. "What do you mean, 'it doesn't concern me'?" He mocked, "You two were talking about the Teen Titans! I'm the Teen Titans!" He furrowed his brow. "Jeez…You always treat me like such a little kid…!"

"You are a kid," She replied curtly.

"No, I ain't!" He argued back, "I'm sixteen, more than old enough to handle the important stuff. I don't care if I'm the youngest—Why do you guys keep secrets from me?"

"If you needed to know, you would," She muttered. Raven crossed her arms and sharply turned her back on him. She walked briskly past Beast Boy, and turned down the hall. Her cape sputtered off her shoulders, and fell to the floor like the limp flutter of a broken tree branch. It dragged along the metallic floor as she trudged away.

There was one hallway that situated Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven's bedrooms, with Star Fire's room down the corner. Raven's room was nearest the kitchen, gaming lounge and natural hangout of the Titans, which meant every Titan needed to pass her room to partake in normal social interaction. She had grown used to the constant daily activity that swarmed by her bedroom, but it was still a mild annoyance.

After what felt like a minute walk, she came to her room. The door opened and she took a single step into her sanctuary. She was so close to disappearing, crawling up with a good book...yet, before she could enter, she caught the slightest blur of green in the corner of her eye. She turned to face him once again.

Beast Boy stopped in front of her, his bottom tooth peaking out of his mouth through a childish frown. His eyes seemed innocent and free, yet she couldn't help but notice the growing anticipation and fear that lingered in his tightened expression. Something was bothering the boy, and his twitching right foot told her it was a rather big thing that kept him abnormally quiet. Beast Boy was definitely the youngest of the Titans, and consequently, the most susceptible to confusion and uncertainty. In the past, she had noticed that Beast Boy handled yelling rather poorly. When other members argued, or even mildly disagreed, he was quick to jump to conclusions, seeing these emotional debates as signs of hatred or anger. However, it was often far from the truth. Debate was a necessary tool for the Titans, and it was something that Robin and Raven did often. In this particular case, she had really wished the discussion would have stayed a secret. After all, the Mayor was a beloved figure of the city—and their discussion about him had been anything but pleasant.

The green boy chuckled weakly before he hesitantly began. "The Mayor's a good guy, right?" He asked at last. "Like, people wouldn't keep reelecting him if he was doing bad things…" His voice echoed in the silence. "I always thought he seemed so cool...always promising to help out and support those in need. You've met him before…he's a cool person, right?"

The question was a bit pointed. It was very clear to her now that he had heard at least a little bit of the discussion she had with Robin. She cleared her throat. "I wouldn't exactly call him good."

"But why? I don't get it! He campaigns for justice! He promises protection and safety and stuff. He stands up for the little guy!" He gushed, waving his arms with emphasis. "How is that bad?"

"That's true," She responded passively. "He's done some good in office."

Beast Boy chuckled, "See! Even you agree! Man, I don't get you two at all…why were you guys yellin' if he's not a bad guy? After all, there's no way we could be half as successful without the Mayor's help! He is so supportive, and provides us with so much. You know, I'd vote for him if I was old enough," he added.

"Thankfully, you're not old enough," she muttered under her breath.

He blinked. "What?"

"Nothing."

Beast Boy shrugged it off. "Well, c'mon, tell me! What happened earlier? You two were pretty serious-soundin'. What's going on? Is there a new big baddie to face?"

She turned her head from him and glanced into her room. She could just barely see the open book resting on her bed; the book she had been reading before Robin wanted to talk with her. She glanced back at the green boy. His question about 'a new big baddie' was peculiar and rather irrelevant. Perhaps he hadn't heard the beginning part of the conversation, and only caught the tail-end. If that was the case, this conversation was pointless. "You wouldn't understand. It's politics, and it's something Robin can handle." She started to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" He commanded, "I totally expect a full explanation from you. I will not let you do one of those capey-disappeary things and leave me out of the dark again."

"You mean 'in the dark'," She replied with idle boredom.

He blinked his eyes in mild confusion. "Huh?"

Raven groaned, "Nevermind..."

"Well? Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeease?"

"No Beast Boy, I won't. That's final," She stated with a slightly raised voice. She abruptly entered her room and let the door slide crisply behind her.

"C'mon Raven! You knooow you want to," he cooed from beyond her door. His voice echoed across her walls and melted into her lavender wallpaper.

"No," she yelled back.

She heard a slight thump against the door and knew he was leaning against it. "...Pleeeeeease? C'mon!" He asked in a hushed voice, breathing out as much emotion as he could muster.

"No."

"Raven..." Came his voice, breaking the silence. And then again, "Raven?" and again, "Raven?", and again, "Raven?", "Raven?", "Raaven?", "RAVEN?", "RAAVEN!".

"DO YOU FUCKING MIND?" She screamed, her temple throbbing with anger, "Leave me alone."

"I'm serious! I want to know! I promise I'll listen. I will understand, and I won't be childish or do whatever it is you think I'll do. I'll be seriously serious, Raven!"

She slapped her palm against her forehead in frustration. "He's never going to stop…" She whimpered. Raven heaved a deep sigh, bit her bottom lip, then pressed the red button on the keypad near her room's entrance. The metallic door clicked open. She stepped out into the hallway and waited for the door to close. "Fine," She said, "but I'll only say this once."

Beast Boy stood there with a slight grin, deep in anticipation.

She remained silent. He looked at her on baited breath. Her mouth did not move. He coughed. She brushed her arm. He began to twitch his right leg again.

At long last, he asked, "Well?"

"The Mayor lies," She responded. "Now, leave me alone."

"Uh…wait...What? Wait, wait, wait!" He squeaked, "That's not telling me anything!"

"He only cares about himself. Is that better?"

"That's not true though," He stammered, "like, I've seen him…"

"No," She interrupted. "It's all selfish."

"There's no way! I see him helping on the news every day! He's not selfish..."

She groaned. It was a difficult subject in general. The Mayor was a likable guy at first glance. He held most of the traits of heroism and faithfulness. However, most of it was complete bullshit. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a budding superhero realizing that one of his idols was not an actual idol. Raven sighed again. She silently mused to herself, wondering if believing government officials actually 'cared about the common good' was anything similar to believing in Santa Clause. "Beast Boy, I've worked with the guy. He's a crooked man…His help..." She paused, "It…comes at a price." She looked down at her purple boots.

"What do you mean?"

"If crime is low, he stays in power. If crime returns, he loses votes," Raven looked up to meet his eyes. She assessed his expression to see if he followed along. He seemed receptive. She continued. "The Mayor only cares if his voters get hurt. That is all."

"But…"

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Three years ago...right before we defeated Slade...the Mayor was elected for his first term. When Slade disappeared, the Mayor was given all the credit for an unprecedented, impossible victory. After all, he 'helped' the Titans reach victory, when no other government official had been able to do so," She rolled her eyes. "Over time...He acquired a taste for the crowd's admiration."

"Yeah, but why does that matter? We care about justice a lot too—it's a good thing. If it keeps him interested in keeping the city safe, it's all good in the end. Right?"

"No," She bitterly replied back, "That's an awful mentality," She felt a bit awkward, standing in the hallway with Beast Boy staring so adamantly at her. Raven entirely turned her back toward him, facing away. "It's true that villains obstruct his chances for reelection," She began to assess the metal screws holding up the railings on the ceiling above her door. "But, villains aren't…the only…problem. ANYONE who gets in his way needs to go. It just so happens, this time, we are the ones in his way. He'll remove us the first chance he gets."

Beast Boy's foot began to twitch even more, "I doubt that! Name one thing he's done wrong," he challenged. Beast Boy crossed his arms for emphasis. "I betcha can't!" He added.

She rolled her eyes. Of course, Beast Boy wasn't interested in an intellectual discussion on the political aims of elected officials. He would rather make it a stupid game. "That's childish, Beast Boy. I'm not going to play your game."

"Ah-ha! You can't! Exactly, the Mayor hasn't done anything wrong..."

"You know, my lack of explanation has no bearing upon his true motives. I don't need to explain." Raven lightly gripped the hood attached to her cape and flung it over her head. Her eyes disappeared behind the dark material. She sighed, before she began to speak again. "About an hour ago, I locked up a bad criminal. An awful, despicable person. The world would be a better place if she was never born." Raven's eyes left the metal railings, and centered on the door barely visible at the end of the hallway. "But...Jinx is a living, breathing human girl. Smiles...laughs...whines...cries. The Mayor thinks she's a monster."

"What do you mean?"

"The Mayor has a new plan to eliminate crime. If super villains were abolished, the Mayor claims our police force would be more effective than us...the Titans. If he could keep the super villains from escaping prison, or find a way to kill them off entirely, then there would only be petty theft and small crimes. The police force can handle that."

"Well...criminal masterminds like Jinx should be in jail...Why is this a bad thing?"

She buried her head deeper into her hood. "Under contract, officially, the 'Mayor', with support of the council board, has hired the Titans to develop better prison systems that will finally put super villains in their place. However, it's complete bullshit. He basically hired me to create an underground tomb. Er...He had me carve a hole in the ground with no entrance or exit. The assumption is, if it cannot be accessed from the outside world, then the villain cannot escape it. I didn't have a problem with this, until it was finally used. Today...I placed Jinx in it...then, I abandoned her."

His throat felt dry. He tried to swallow, "…What?"

"If Robin hadn't fought so adamantly, the girl would have had no heat, no light, no paved ground, nothing at all. Robin tried really hard...The Mayor didn't want to spend even that bare minimum on her; Robin succeeded. I wanted no part in this, but by contract, I was given the job. I don't have the right to refuse." She lowered her head in mild disappointment. "This is the Mayor's solution for all criminals," She added.

"He did all of this…just to remove us from power?" He stammered. "Just...for power? How does removing us help himself?"

"The citizens respect and admire the Titans even more than the Mayor. Plus, remove us, and their tax dollars would go to his own programs, rather than to keep the expensive Titans going."

Beast Boy's frown deepened. "What happens to Jinx when we're gone?"

Suddenly, Raven lost all interest in the conversation. She stepped closer into her room, and it seemed as if for a fleeting moment, she might withdraw completely. Silence leaked into the hallway, until at last she spoke. "Jinx dies when the police forget about her."

"T-that's horrible...Why don't we do something about it?" He pleaded.

Raven shook her head, "We cannot stop him. We would be opposing what's best for the town for our own selfish gain. We can't just break the law because we randomly disapprove of it."

Beast Boy's eyebrow rose in utter confusion, "Selfish gain? What do you mean?"

"We cannot try to save our own jobs and act in our own self interest. If we do, we're no better than the Mayor or Jinx or any criminal."

"No!" He shouted, "This isn't about our jobs. This is about justice! You can't mistreat villains just because they're villains. They are human too…!" His voice cracked.

Raven turned her head to quickly glance at the boy standing in the hall. He looked like his head was spinning. She knew it was not a good idea to involve him. This was a burden she alone should have to face. It was a nice sentiment when Robin offered to help, but Beast Boy shouldn't have to shelter guilt for a choice he had no part. Raven looked away, "If that's the law, then you can mistreat villains. State-assisted murder happens in all civilized courts."

"N-no you can't, that doesn't even make sense! We should stand up for what's right. You can't just kill Jinx because she's mean."

"The Mayor was elected by the people. He is our law."

"No! He's not my law, and he's a stupid person if he thinks it's okay to treat someone poorly for personal gain. If you agree with him, then you're horrible, Raven..." The words fell loosely from his lips, but almost as quickly as they came out, the boy's expression turned regretful.

Raven looked back at the gray floor, a bit of shame in her eyes. It was her burden, not his. "Maybe I am, but it must be this way. Our job is to protect the law, and the Mayor makes our laws."

He frowned, "No life should be sacrificed, no matter how small. You need to stand up for what you believe in, Raven. If the Mayor is doing such a horrible thing, then he's a criminal too…"

"You're naive," She said at last, before she officially left the hallway and entered her room for the night.

"If the Titans could act as we wanted, then we'd be a renegade force worse than the Mayor himself," She added under her hushed breath. "Nobody is exempt from law."

* * *

_The mindless walk brought about a slight ache in her heart. Each passing street stood as a landmark, a sign, and a reminder of her meticulous planning. Every tight thought and circular consideration lingered in the edges of the plant life, the urban sprawl, and even the brown spray paint on the sidewalk. Every step she took, she could hear the echoing reminder of her miscalculations and unforgettable flaws. Today was another failure to add to her stunted dreams. Another day to rest within the growing pages of her unforgivable life. If he was right, she would never be able to live with herself. If what he said was true, then she would have to give it all up, or risk it all._

_After all, she chose the path of the future: their dreams were in her hands, and she couldn't afford to lose. She would have to do everything to win...no matter what.  
_

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	3. Book I: Chapter II

Book I: Chapter II

* * *

Her eyes flickered open. Fuzzy brown and gray shapes filled her narrow vision. She raised her arms and elegantly stretched them behind her back, yawning as she did so. The girl nimbly jumped to her feet and ran her fingers through her hair. A clump of dirt caught her fingers, and she roughly pulled it out. The girl frowned; she was still dirty. Jinx surveyed her room, half-hoping to see pretty pink wallpaper and a large closet. Nope. It was definitely hell. The room was no brighter than she last remembered. If anything, the cavern seemed darker—more smothering. In fact, it was hard to see even the backs of her own hands. The electric light shining from above seemed to be weaker than before.

"Reaahh, this place is annoying!" She whined, letting her voice fill the cavern. It echoed once, before dissipating into the darkness. She took in a deep breath. The faint smell of mold still lingered in the air. She choked on the scent, quickly bringing her hands to her face to drown out the seemingly toxic fumes. The girl stood there for several seconds, breathing through her hands, before she began to feel a slight grumble coming from her stomach. Jinx was now well-rested, but ravenously hungry. The girl shook her head and tried to ignore the pain. She would need to fight past her discomforts; now was the time to establish an escape before she psyched herself out. "Food is only a luxury," she weakly told herself. "So is clean air..."

_Sound._ Was it useful? She had only a rudimentary knowledge of how sound worked. She knew that an echo required a solid surface far enough way to reflect the sound back. Did echoes only result when there's an opening in one of the walls, or can a completely sealed room have an echo? It was something she didn't know. She could only think back to her last echo, deep in a valley with two large walls that sprawled up as far as the eye could see. When she yelled, the sound of her voice seemed to bounce and ricochet off the light brown walls. Little specks of grass littered the landscape, and patches of white flower grew in clusters all the way up. The sun had poured down on her so heavily, that the constant stream of wind felt pleasant against her nauseatingly dry skin…

The daydream dissolved, and the chilly air made Jinx shiver. Her bare feet felt bitter and numb, resting against icy stone. She raised her left foot, and weakly massaged life back into her toes. The vixen looked up at the dark sky above. Although she could see no ceiling, she knew there must be one up high. The place had to be sealed off, else rain could fill the cavern, and drowning would be an immediate threat. She cast her gaze haphazardly around the room, half-hoping to spot something she might have overlooked. There must be something she could use to escape. There must be something that told her the way out. Jinx looked at the walls, and the ceiling. The bucket and her bedding. The tray of food and the polished floor. The jagged rocks and the dull browns. The flickering light that seemed to lose its power the longer it continued to hum.

Her eyes opened wide at the sight of the food near her bed.

"How…" She muttered in disbelief. Someone must have entered her domain while she slept. Jinx tightly wrapped her hands around her body and hugged her stomach. Yet again, she felt violated. "Someone was in here, and you didn't hear them. Come on Jinx, focus! You're losing your edge…drugged..." She paused, before adding, "I must still be drugged."

The girl bitterly sat down near the food and crossed her legs. She looked at the huge, plastic bowl of water. A metal spoon peaked out of the foul liquid. The girl gripped the utensil and loosely stirred her food. There were chunks of stuff in it. She bit her bottom lip. "You've got to be kidding me…what is this crap? This isn't food. This is awful. I deserve so much better than this..." There wasn't even a glass of water to supplement her meal. Unfortunately, she was starving. Dying of hunger. She could barely think straight, and she would need to eat someday. If not this meal, then the next. She also knew she couldn't think on an empty stomach. As much as her first instinct was to reject the meal for fear of poison, she knew time was not on her side. She would eat something eventually. If poison was their intention, it was inevitable. She glanced back at the foul food. If her captors were cruel enough to throw her in a hole, it's possible her little visitor would return and take the uneaten food away… the next time she would get a chance to eat was a distant, yet unknown, future.

She hesitantly looked at the liquid's bubbling surface. It was steaming hot, and the bowl was deep. She raised her eyebrow, wondering how they kept her meal so warm. If there was a kitchen nearby, perhaps that was the direction to start digging. Her eyes leisurely scanned the rim of the bowl, idly calculating the size of her meal. She was a bit surprised; there was a lot more of a meal than she was initially expecting. Ordinarily, a captor might provide only the bare essentials to maintain a life. In this case, she might eat her fill and have extra to spare.

Jinx scooped a bit of light brown liquid onto her spoon and lightly spun it on her utensil. She played with the consistency, letting the liquid slosh from her spoon, and fall back into the bowl. She poked at the little chunks of meat, and the white squares. She wondered if the green sliver was a celery, or a green bean. Jinx scooped a shallow amount onto her spoon, and raised it to her lips. She closed her eyes and imagined Gizmo's hearty stew as she let the substance slide down her throat. She imagined all the flavor and zest her companion's cooking always had. She pretended he had made the meal just for her to experiment a newly concocted dish.

She swallowed.

Her eyes lit up.

It was tasty. It lacked a bit of spice, where a bit more salt might have made it an enjoyable meal, but it was actually pleasant to her tongue. The broth itself had a smooth texture, and the vegetables were cooked just well enough to give her teeth some exercise, but not crunchy enough to flake into stringy bits. Eating veggies and beef in broth was better than the putrid meat-smoothie that Jump City prisons typically offered. She would take soup-stew over loaf of meat any day. The beginnings of a smile grew on her face. She would never admit it aloud, but Jinx was slightly thankful she wouldn't vomit her first night here. It was always a hassle…The thought stalled in her mind for a second, before her eyes grew wide in distress. "ONLY night here!" she quickly corrected aloud.

Jinx finished her meal. To her surprise, she ate it all. It was perhaps the best prison food she had ever eaten—healthy, even. It certainly filled her up, and gave her the strength to sit back sassily with a full stomach. She let her body rest for a few moments longer, before she stood up and gave a little twirl. She danced in the dark, and did a handstand, in the privacy of her own cell. She rotated wrists, and swirled her hips under the dizzyingly dim light. She was full and ready to go.

_Escape. _

Right.

Jinx looked down at the paved floor. There was a reason for it to be paved, right? People don't just pave things for no reason. There was intention behind the act. Did it hide a way out? It was an interesting thought, but she worried that the paved ground might be her own symbolic crack in the wall. Peculiar doesn't mean escape. Strange doesn't mean important. Besides, the ground was down. She was underground. It only seemed logical that the way out was up. The girl shook her head. She had to think through all of the possibilities. A paved floor could be hiding an escape. Maybe they placed a hidden door, imbedded in her floor, and Raven had nothing to do with her imprisonment. It seemed silly, but it was plausible. Perhaps even cunning—how often does one expect the escape to be downward? It was counterintuitive, and just strange enough to fill Jinx with hope. Quickly scanning the room with her eyes, she tried to look for an out-of-place gap on the floor—anything that might symbolize a trap door, hinge or movable brick. Unfortunately, it was too dark to make out anything significant. The light was scarce and it made it hard to see even a few feet ahead.

Jinx got on her hands and knees. She started at one curve of the room and systematically crawled over every square inch of the floor. When she came to the middle of the room, she pushed away her blankets and her pillow, again inspecting every nook and cranny. Her knees began to ache as the hard surface smacked against her soft skin, and her arms felt sore as they supported her crawling, and sprawling body. As she reached the final stretch of curve, she concluded there were no gaps to signify a door. There was no way the floor could be an exit in disguise. Everything seemed perfectly solid, and the mortar between the bricks was very stiff to the touch.

_Plan B. _

She stood up and once again toyed with her powers against the stone. The pink rings sliced into rock; bolts scattered everywhere. Slight pings filled the air as her energy ricocheted off one wall and hit the next. In all, her efforts were in vain. A few, subtle dents in rock, but nothing that indicated an escape. The acrobat shrugged. "Well, that's one possibility firmly crossed off the list..." She mentally recalculated her options. Down was no go. The walls were within the realm of possibility, but impractical to test. Her powers were less than useful. If she was looking for a quick escape, above seemed to be the answer.

She analyzed the spiraling, mysterious black that clung to the above. It was inconvenient to test, but it was logically the first place to look. The girl wanted to stay away from exploring the seemingly obvious, but her options were running more narrow. Furthermore, Jinx knew it would be exhausting to explore the upward direction. She couldn't see anything up there, and without sight, she would be at a severe disadvantage. The idea seemed to tumble through her thoughts, before she replied at once. _The lack of light must be intentional. _

She made a fist, and slammed it against her other palm. "Okay Jinx, the basics. HIVE rule number forty-six: nothing is impossible. There's a way out; I just have to find it." She paused as she once more eyed the room around her. "Rule number sixteen, use all tools to your advantage. Think through the evidence…"

A wooden bucket. Some bedding sheets. A pillow. A plastic tray. A plastic bowl. A metal spoon. A prison shirt and a matching set of sweatpants. Her powers. Her hair. Pieces of rock she might be able to break off. Stone bricks dug out of the polished mortar. The dripping sound echoing in the distance. A light bulb, the metal dish surrounding the bulb, and the electric cord holding it up. The metal rungs holding the bucket together. Planks of wood taken from the bucket. The small strip of rope functioning as the bucket's handle…

She frowned. She had some tools in her procession, but nothing particularly useful. Her mind ran through the tools a second time, before she faltered. "A metal spoon?" She hurried to the tray and picked up the utensil. "Really? They gave me a weapon?" The vixen asked with a slight chuckle. Although she didn't know how to use it to her advantage, she knew it was a very useful tool. If nothing else, it served as a form of defense beyond her powers. She might be able to heat it up, and form it into a different shape entirely. For now, she placed the metal spoon back on the ground, leaving a mental note in her head.

Jinx's fingers tightened into a taunt fist as she grit her teeth. She hated being restrained. She abhorred being made a fool. She detested the fact that the Titans were laughing at her misery. They were mocking her! She was the best of her kind, and they were taking her as an idiot! She was a song bird who was meant to fly. She was never meant to be blind. Jinx would love to sharpen the spoon into a point, and slam it into the frail frame of the girl who had trapped her and provided her such misery. Raven was more than deserving of such a fate. _That gothic clown would never smile again... T_he thought seemed to trail off, as her anger moved elsewhere. Jinx eyed the source of her nearest aggravation. It would serve that stupid electric light well if she shattered it. It had no purpose being so useless.

She frowned, and held in her breath to a count of ten, before hesitantly letting it go. "Keep your cool..." she muttered, knowing that her sanity was a necessity. It was perhaps irony itself that frustrated her the most. Beyond the shadowed walls, she knew the light itself, the very tool that seemed to bring her own ambitions to fruition, was hiding a dirty little secret. Somewhere up above, that cord must connect to an energy source. The cord couldn't be too ridiculously long. They must have dug a small hole in the rock for the cord to fit. It went to an outlet of some kind, which meant there was a room up above and a potential to escape. It had to lead some place better off than 'here'.

This was one of her most likely escapes. However...she paused, letting her eyes absorb the weak light it gave off. The light was definitely a way out, but...it also meant complete and permanent darkness if she failed. One wrong move, and her sense of direction could entirely disappear. She lived by light, and although she was good at traveling in the dark, she graciously relied on her eyes to live. Her teeth chewed on her bottom lip, as words formed in her mind. _There would be nothing worse than being blind in this hellhole. That fucking drip of water would only get louder...the smell more awful._

"I don't suppose they'll buy me a new light if I break this one...?" She asked the bitter air. Jinx sighed when she received no response. It was a last resort if she could come up with no alternative option. However, it was a resort she hoped she would not fall prey. The consequences of failure might be worse than death itself.

_Drip_.

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	4. Book I: Chapter III

Book I: Chapter III

* * *

"_Welcome, Jinx. I have been expecting you."_

"_What do you want?" She spat, letting bitterness carry in her voice._

"_I require your services."_

"_What do you want?" She repeated._

_His lips curled into a smile. "Yes, you will do just fine. Listen carefully, and do exactly as I command."_

_

* * *

_Gizmo glared at the detailed trim of the West City Bank. The building was made up of various shades of stark white and crisp silver, featuring a collage of polished marble embedded in stone tiles. The sign was embroidered in crisp gold lettering, hanging above a large row of flashing lights tacked on the outside of the structure. It was at least five stories high, and it towered over the surrounding shopping center like a castle over a kingdom. The bank was the lovechild of the long-time mayor, Travis Hynes. The man had spent millions of taxpayer's money on the construction. It meant very little to Gizmo, but it slightly it bothered him to see such a waste of cash. That kind of money could have funded a whole army of killer robots, or an entire room full of video games. Instead, they squandered such wealth for bragging rights. Gizmo was a practical villian; he took value in the simple, yet effective, way of doing things. The idea of spending money on the outside of the bank seemed rather vain, perhaps ironic, to him. The point of a vault was security, not vanity. As long as it could secure cash, it did not need decoration. "Cruddy snots should have spent their money building a better security system. This one's cake," Gizmo muttered. The boy turned to Jinx and eyed her for a moment, before continuing. "Crud…Why are we here again?" He asked, a scowl growing on his face.

"Because," retorted Jinx, "Anonymous gave us this secret mission. Handpicked and specialized just for us. He said we were the only ones who could pull it off."

"What a load of crud. Who is this _masked_ man? Why are we standing outside? We could have robbed the place by now!"

Jinx rolled her eyes. "Bank robberies? That's so…elementary. We'll never grow if we don't make a name for ourselves."

Gizmo turned his head away from her and let his eyes fall once more on the bank's obnoxiously large display. "Like that even matters! Jeez, I'm in it for the money, not the higher criminal charges."

"Then why are you here? Nobody asked you to come. Go run off—play cops and robbers while I make it big. It's not like we need you, right Mammoth?"

Mammoth stayed silent.

Gizmo looked solemnly toward the ground and nervously rubbed his left shoulder with his right hand. "And what, abandon you two...?" He sighed. "If you two want to stand here like morons, I can at least keep you company." He paused, inspecting the lines in the cement, before speaking again. "All I'm sayin' is we don't need to do some other cruddy villain's dirty work, you know? Every time we go off trying to please some super genius, we get busted! Then we have to break out of jail and deal with those crudsniffin' Titans. It's lose-lose of us, every time." The boy snorted, before carrying on. "Besides, what makes those super villain doofuses any better than we are? I'm tellin' ya, if we had the money, we could be just as good as them."

"But we don't have the money," interrupted Jinx. "We don't have the resources, and we don't have a brilliant plan!" She let out an aggravated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose with her pointer and thumb fingers. Her eyes closed firmly shut for a brief moment, before she opened them. "Although we're older now, the veterans still think we're newbies. They think we're HIVE students who don't know what we're doing. That's half the reason why we broke away from the HIVE FIVE anyhow! Those idiots were holding us back," She paused, before casually kicking a rock off the sidewalk and into the paved road. "Besides…Why should we start from scratch? Why make our own plan? If we can impress a veteran…we can start where they left off. Quicker, faster and _way_ more convenient."

Gizmo shook his head in disapproval. He scratched his chin as he shrugged. "How many times do we have to fail before it isn't worth it? We've tried pretty damn hard sucking up to those eggheads, and we've got nothing to show for it. The Brotherhood used us. The Academy still uses us. Hell, even Slade—" Jinx cringed at the sound of his name "—used us. It won't work, trust me on this one. We'll just get sent to jail again, and piss off whoever's relying on us this time."

The mentioning of Slade caught her a bit off-guard. Their previous encounter with the man had left all three of them with scars—mostly metaphorical, but a couple physical ones as well. She quickly collected her thoughts. She didn't need another reminder of a bad choice she had made in the past. She glared at him. "Are you that afraid of failing? It's simple, Gizmo. If you don't want to fail…Then...DON'T MESS THIS UP!" She shouted. "If we actually pulled off our missions once in a while, we wouldn't have to steal for ends-meet." Jinx turned away from the boy and casually stared up at the sky above. The clouds seemed to drift from the right, to the left, twirling toward the horizon. "If you're seriously that addicted to petty crime...You're no better than the other HIVE FIVE losers. Pick pocketing and pranks. God, what rubbish!" The clouds looked so far away, she mused. Almost as far as her dreams of becoming a success. They seemed about as aimless as her comrades, too. "I deserve better than amateurs…" She muttered under her breath.

"Jeez! Okay, okay, relax. You know I'm with you on this one," Gizmo flashed her a boyish grin. "Crud, after all we've been through..." His voice trailed off, before he cleared his throat, "I'll help…even if I think it's a stupid idea. A really stupid idea, but we'll manage." He looked back at Jinx with a raised eyebrow, "So, you didn't even tell us. What's our job this time? What are we doing here, exactly?"

"I don't know," Jinx shrugged. "The letter told us to stand outside this bank."

For the first time, Mammoth's raspy voice broke the silence, "Standing here is boring, and I'm getting hungry…The letter hadta say more than that."

"It didn't say anything else. We were given strict orders to stand here. That is all," Jinx began to idly tweak the black bands holding up her hair.

Mammoth's brow lined with confusion, "Are we guarding something?"

"I…don't know…it didn't say," Jinx answered bitterly. She saw Gizmo and Mammoth exchange pained expressions with each other. "Guh! Just…Arg! It doesn't matter!" She cried out. "Just trust me; I know it'll all work out in the end. I'll treat you to pizza after we're paid."

Gizmo grunted. "You mean…you don't even know why we're here? Crud! Talk about a lame snotty mission. Stand here? There's no rationale behind this! You must have misread the task. The letter had to give more instructions."

"It didn't. It's a top secret mission, and we weren't trusted enough to know the full details. Who's fault do you think that is?" She spat at him.

Gizmo crossed his arms across his chest. "You're not joking, are you? That's really, seriously, our mission? To stand here…?"

"Well…it also mentioned something about the Titans showing up—But that's all. Our instructions were to stand still and wait."

"Great," muttered Gizmo, "those snotballs…wait. How are they supposed to know we're here?"

"Well…I'm not sure. The letter said they'll show up."

"But why? It's not illegal to stand outside of a bank. I mean, it's possibly loitering, but they don't call the Titans for that kind of junk." Gizmo began to pace back and forth. "How could you be so stupid, accepting a mission like this? We've been had! This is why I handle the big stuff. Next time, let me deal with '_Mr. Anonymous_'. I'll get him to spill the details."

Jinx clenched her fists. "Every time I let you handle it, everything goes to hell!" She glared at her companion. With a flick of her wrist, a large blast of pink energy slammed into the store's windows. Pieces of shattered glass fell to the ground. "There, are you fucking satisfied now? They have a reason to come."

"Well…I guess that was illegal," the boy chuckled, "And I love your work. But, we're known for theft and we haven't stolen anything. Not only is this completely out of our training, but we're not even acting normal! Robin's no idiot. He'll think this is a trap…or a decoy," Gizmo sighed. "This is why you aren't the brains! Only pick missions that are inside our specialty…jobs that we know how to do. Jobs that don't make us look suspicious. Nobody takes us seriously because we don't know what we're doing! We're still amateurs, Jinx."

"Just shut it. Your missions are terrible. Besides, the mission asked for us specifically. According to the paper, nobody else had the qualifications of…"

Gizmo began to yell, interrupting the girl in mid sentence, "…Of standing outside in the fucking cold? Jinx, don't you see? We've been had! Nothing's going to happen! This is so fucking stupid! They will never show!"

In a quick burst of sound, a white and blue car screeched across the road and slid several meters away from the villains. The five Titans jumped out of the vehicle and landed gracefully into their respective combat positions. It was their sudden entrance, coupled with shock that the mission actually worked out as promised, that Jinx almost stumbled to the ground. However, the sight of her arch-enemies and their flashy entrance released adrenaline into her blood, and she caught her balance. She quickly bent her knees and curled her fingers into fists, ready for battle. Jinx casually turned her head, and stuck her tongue out at Gizmo, as if to say, '_Ha. I told you so!'_ Gizmo pretended to ignore her._  
_

Robin's cautious eyes fell on his enemies, "Don't you ever learn? Crime doesn't pay."

Beast Boy nodded, "Yeah, what's with you guys? How many times do we have to beat your butts before you'll stop?"

Robin glanced at the pink girl's fists. She looked ready to pounce, and her companions would likely follow. There would most definitely be a battle, and he would need to prepare his own team for the fight. He nodded to himself, before releasing a loud, booming command into the heavy air. "Titan's G-…!"

"Uh…Robin?" Raven's icy voice stopped their leader in mid-phrase. "They're just standing there."

"What Raven speaks is true. Tell me, Robin, why are they not stealing the goods of the bank?" asked Starfire.

"I…don't know. This is pretty strange." Robin turned his head to Cyborg, "It might be a trap. Cyborg, where are the other three HIVE FIVE members? Is this a decoy to lure us out?"

"Ahem!" cleared Jinx's throat.

"I don't know man, this doesn't look like a set-up. Nobody's seen the other HIVE FIVE members anywhere. They should still be in hiding. In fact, they haven't been active in days."

Jinx looked furious. "This has absolutely noth…"

"That really is strange," Robin frowned. "Okay, team. Well, we might as well…"

A bright flash of purple light slammed into the ground, and a puff of white dust rose from the blast. "Stop ignoring us!" screamed Jinx, as loud as her voice could carry. "We're right here, and we're ready to fight."

Robin turned to Jinx. He raised his left eyebrow. "Well…that's great, but…Do we have a reason to fight you? I mean, you're not entirely breaking the law…"

"Yes we are! I broke the window to the bank," she whined.

"Well, yes, but…that's just a fine. We don't write fines. That's the city police's responsibility..." stated Robin.

Gizmo shouted, "I told you this was a stupid idea!"

"Shut up!" growled Jinx. "Look, skip the formalities. We're all here, let's get on with it. You're heroes; we're villains. We fight. Got it?" Jinx began to run toward the boy wonder, but just as Jinx set up her attack, Robin and Beast Boy's belt began to flash a bright red. Cyborg's built-in emergency alert system went off, while Starfire's amulet and the clasp on Raven's cloak lit up. All at once, the team's lights flashed, and Jinx came to a halt. The five Titans looked at one another in curiosity, before all eyes—including three pairs of HIVE eyes—fell on Cyborg. From his right arm, he unlatched a computer monitor and began to type in a few commands.

"Guys, you're not going to believe this. Three small-time crooks are currently active in the city. One's at a supermarket, another at a museum, and one's robbing an old lady," Cyborg frowned. "Woah, get this, two more criminals were spotted… Uh, an assault and someone's trying to break into the city's main power grid." Cyborg scratched his head. "Man, what the hell is going on? The report just jumped to fourteen cases of crime. No, sixteen. Twenty? Okay...Twenty-seven, for now. Thirty? Ah man, this ain't a glitch; I have live satellite footage and everything. It's the real deal...somethin' strange is goin' down across the city."

Robin curiously looked over at the three villains in front of him. "Cyborg, what are the HIVE FIVE registered as?"

"Well, the report says three members of the HIVE FIVE were spotted near a bank. They haven't done anything to cause alarm, though. It's just a warning. A broken window was reported, but there were no witnesses to assure the HIVE FIVE were responsible."

"Ahem! I broke the window! I am a witness!" whined Jinx.

"Okay…" muttered Robin, deep in thought, "We apparently have more pressing matters elsewhere. Cyborg, arrange the incidents based on priority: first for public safety, and second for most recent outbreak. We'll try to stop as many as possible. I don't know what's going on, but we have to act fast. Titan's…GO!" Almost as quickly as the five Titans appeared on the scene, they disappeared.

The three villains stood dumbfounded. Jinx clenched her fists tighter and stomped her feet on the ground. "You've got to be kidding me! They just…they just…No way! We're the real criminals here, not those petty small fries. How could they just ignore us, for …thugs?"

"I told you this was stupid! I told you. Don't accept cruddy missions from people you don't know. It will always fail," groaned Gizmo.

"God, you just had to open your mouth didn't you?" She argued back, "You practically blew our cover when you said this mission was stupid."

"But it is stupid! Those crudmunchers don't care about us. They care about stopping crime. Are we doing anything wrong? No! We're wasting our time standing here. We were obviously decoys to stall the Titans long enough for someone else to set up his stupid plan."

"What do you mean, 'plan?' You think someone's working with small-time thieves?"

"Obviously. You saw the look on Robin's face. Dozens of snots gathering to cause mass petty crime? That doesn't happen on a whim," He paused. "It was organized, and we were the bait to pull it off. Anyone. Absolutely any-fucking-one could have been us. We aren't special. Super villains want their name on solid work. If this was a prestigious job, don't you think the dude would have pasted his name everywhere? He'd want to take all the credit."

Jinx sighed. "So…this _was_ a waste of time?"

"Yes," responded Gizmo in a curt manner. The HIVE graduates stood in silence for several minutes.

Mammoth scratched the back of his neck. "Uh…Guys? If the Titan's are gone and we completed our mission…why are we still standing here?"

Jinx and Gizmo awkwardly looked at one another. "I'm not sure," replied Jinx.

Mammoth grinned. "I'm starving. That pizza. Offer still up?"

Jinx shrugged. "I guess I could go for a few slices."

Gizmo nodded. "Sounds great to me."

* * *

_"Sir, the reports say..."_

_"Yes, yes, I know. Ignore it. Wait until the Titans ask for police assistance."_

_"Yes, sir. And the prisoner? I didn't see any provisions for her to be fed..."_

_"Don't worry. She has enough water."  
_

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	5. Book I: Chapter IV

Book I: Chapter IV

* * *

She dropped to the ground, banging her knees against the cement. Her fingers tore at the stone and her fingernails raked against rock. She felt so desperate, so helpless. Her powers were so ubiquitous—it was shocking to experience a cell designed so well.

_Escape._

Her task seemed too impossible; the darkness seemed too encompassing. _They must be worried sick, _She thought. _Gizmo and Mammoth…probably burnin' the town lookin' for me. _Jinx sat back on her legs, took a deep breath, and slowly rocked back and forth. Her body flowed with a faint rhythm, rocking at a steady rate. The slow tempo seemed to keep her a bit warmer than her previously motionless state. _Or maybe they haven't noticed … I stay out a lot… _She contemplated what it meant to be trapped in a puzzle. Puzzles were devious creations, where all the clues were given upfront. It took lateral thinking and practicality to tie all of the clues together to find a solution. A Rubik's cube was never missing any squares. They were all there; they only needed to be fit in the right order. In much the same way, Jinx knew the answer was staring her in the face. It was out there. The problem had a solution; it was just a matter of finding it.

_They better be lookin' for me. Their way of life depends on my wellbeing. I've done so much for them…_

Jinx sighed again. A slight breeze caused her to shiver. She contemplated wrapping up in her terribly useless blanket. She eyed the blanket from across the room, too lazy to walk over to it. The girl looked down at her polished pink toenails. Her toes felt numb. No amount of rubbing them seemed to tear away the cold. She lay back, staring down the dim light above. She idly rose her feet off the icy stone and let them flail in the air, twisting them like a pair of tanned batons. She inhaled, trying to ignore the smell and taste of the rancid mold that clung to the air.

It was during that deep breath that the thought pierced her mind. Her eyebrows rose and her head tilted curiously upward. She spoke aloud, her inquisitive voice breaking the silent air. "A slight breeze? _Air?_" The word lingered on her tongue. "Air…" The room seemed abnormally quiet. "Rock has no air holes. I have no way to breathe."

Her second sign of hope hit her abnormally hard. "If I can breathe and it keeps getting fucking colder in here, there must be a hole of some kind. Otherwise, I'd suffocate. Normal prison cells have bars to bypass this little problem."

She had inspected everything from eye-level downward so thoroughly, she knew every area she could tangibly reach was only rock. If there was a gap or hole from below, it was nothing large enough to give off wind. She smiled as she looked above. She knew the darkness had to be concealing something up there. Even if it was small, there was a hole or a vent to allow chilled air to enter and leave. If nothing else, it would tell her which direction she could find the outside world. She could use her powers to wrap around the small hole, and crack the entrance wider.

_Hope._

She drew energy into her hands and threw her power straight into the ceiling. Unfortunately, the glow of the heated energy emanating from her powers was not strong enough to light up the ceiling. She could see little flakes of light and the faintest outlines of wall, but nothing clear enough to distinguish hole from solid. She was back at square one. She couldn't climb the wall without wasting an exhaustive amount of energy and there was no telling where the hole might be. Was it small? Was it large? Would she be able to see it in the first place? Even with a flashlight, it was often hard to see a hole in a completely dark room. Jinx needed more of a strategy before she began to haphazardly climb random parts of wall. If she damaged the rock too much, she might really ruin her chances of escape altogether.

The girl ran through the list of tools she had. The bucket would be useless here. Her blanket, as well as her pillow, too. What could she use?

She glanced at the plastic bowl and casually picked it up in her hands. It was hard, but under pressure, it could bend. It was sturdy and it had substance. Using a weak ring of her power, she cupped her hands around the plastic, slowly heating it up. As the temperature rose, the material became easier to bend. Using as much force as she could muster, she closed the material in on itself and then folded it half once more. She began to construct a makeshift ball, as if she was molding a ball out of tinfoil, rubbing the edges of the plastic plate, trying to smooth them as much as possible.

After she had finished, she let it fall to the ground. It landed with a thud, but maintained its relative shape. She picked it up and began to inspect her work more thoroughly. The plate-ball wasn't very round, but it had a bit of weight to it. She could grip it and chuck it pretty far. In fact, it quite resembled a smashed tennis ball, one that could no longer bounce.

The girl gripped the plate-ball and threw it toward the ceiling. It hit against a far wall with a loud ting and then tumbled straight to the floor. She picked it up and tossed it slightly higher. Then higher still, until she hit the corner meeting the ceiling. Then, she threw it slightly to the right, and then downward, and then further, and so on, mapping out all of the darkened areas she could not inspect with her own eyes. Jinx repeated the procedure a hundredfold. It was a painstaking process of trial and error. She often missed her throw, requiring rethrows. She lost her orientation a couple times, meaning she skipped entire sections of wall, or redid the same throw ad nauseum.

It took far more time than she had ever imagined. She was even a bit sweaty—exhausted—when she considered giving up. The plan had a few inherent flaws. First, she didn't know what she was looking for. What were her expectations? Would the ball just disappear into the supposed 'hole'? She was waiting for the moment when the ball exhibited abnormal behavior: ricocheting in an off-direction or disappearing altogether, but she couldn't be sure a hole would cause such behavior. For all she knew, she had already hit the hole and the ball had fallen to the ground as per normal. Second, she didn't know how big the hole was. She had to ensure the ball fell almost seamlessly close to her previous throws, else it was possible that the hole could be hiding within the gaps between each toss.

Wiping sweat from her brow, she bent down and picked up the fallen ball. Her back ached from the repetition automation and her arm was sore. The girl was panting now, finding it increasingly hard to catch her breath. Her throat was dry, still without any form of liquid beside her stew. The wall she had to explore was as high as her eyes could imagine, with walls wider than her extended arms many times over. The dome-structure had no discernable or identifiable landmarks and she felt trapped within the stuffy air. The girl's constant swinging of her head through the motions of picking up and tossing had made her nauseous. Her eyes strained under the dark, trying to mentally remember where last she had thrown and where next she would explore.

She felt mentally drained. Exhausted.

Jinx tossed the ball again, slightly below her previous toss. Yet, she messed up with her throw. The ball didn't hit as it should...it refused to come back down. It was a fluke. Her mind stalled, wondering how she would get the ball down to continue her trial, all the while staring at the mysterious spot in disbelief. Would she use something else? Would she have to climb all the way up there to receive her only hope of getting out of this place?

A moment passed.

Jinx's mouth opened and her eyes lit up.

Her mouth formed into a grim smile, contrasting her wicked face.

She had found her sign.

Jinx's serpentine eyes glistened with eager pride. She burned the location of where she had thrown the ball into her mind and hesitantly walked backward, never taking her eyes off the spot. She reached behind her back, flinging her left hand across the floor, until she blindly grabbed her bed sheet. She quickly crumpled it into a rounded shape and threw the blanket against the wall directly below where the plate-ball had refused to come back down. Directly above the blanket, somewhere deep within the dark, was her salvation. The bed sheet—useless in every other respect—marked her freedom.

Now that she had the location marked, she could take her eyes off the spot and begin to think of a way up. Jinx looked through her tools. She had to hand it to her captors. They designed the prison very well. The forward slanting walls leaned in such a way that she would have to climb slightly upside-down to reach her exit. It was the unfortunate fact of trying to climb a shape resembling a triangle. Without places to grip, it would be a near-impossible surface to scale. The cell would easily trap any normal person forever. However, she was the best HIVE operative in the world. She would not go down easy and she had no intention of staying.

Jinx wiggled her bare toes as she surveyed her pile of tools, thinking about the best possible plan. She would need to scale a wall, which involved getting her body very high off the ground. She would need to do it safely and with as few scrapes as possible. Falling could prove lethal, causing a sprain, or in the worst-case scenario, a snapped bone or concussion. All of these possibilities would hinder her chances of escape, especially if she relied on her physical fitness to outrun possible pursuers. The darkness meant she would be working nearly blind. She walked to the wall and began to consider her best plan of attack. To get up, she would need to carve grips into the rock. They didn't need to be deep. She had a lot of experience scaling less-than-practical surfaces, but they needed an indentation large enough to hold weight.

The girl concentrated energy into her hands and shot it at the wall, roughly at eye-level. It felt odd, trying to control her energy in a very specific spot. She had practical experience throwing waves of power in large areas, knowing that something was bound to happen. But direct, controlled bursts of energy centralized in a small location? It just wasn't something she was trained to do.

Bad luck spirals around an entire structure, snaps loose ends, and helps a structure damage itself. It is a chaotic and uncontrollable power, which runs along the lengths of walls and buildings, and wraps around foundations. Bad luck grips and pulls, stretches and skews solid masses. It didn't collect. A tight ball of exploding bad luck? All of her warning signs screamed bad idea. This was certainly a learning experience. "If I ever escape this shit…" Jinx muttered, "I'll have a good, long training session addressing these …flaws…of my training. Well…After my hour-long bath," She added.

It took seven blasts of energy to sufficiently slice a jagged dent into the wall at her head's length. It was shallow. It was in the shape of a crude "X," but her fingers could curl around it. After an eighth blast, she imagined the tips of her toes could even stand on it. It was perfect, with the only downside of being sharp as hell. She had created a rather jagged rock, and she would need to be careful not to cut herself while she used it.

She then began the next one, the second gripping parallel to her first. It only took six blasts this time as she became significantly more apt at controlling her power. She smiled wider as she began to work on the third grip, now at a location a few inches above her head.

Unfortunately, creating a higher row at her lower altitude proved to be much harder. She could barely see in the light, let alone control her powers enough to pinpoint a specific, inches-wide mark high up on the wall at a distance. It was more like 'pin the tail on the donkey', where every failed attempted gouged a large hole out of possible donkey. It was risky to continue, knowing that too many failed attempts might destroy the wall beyond repair and make scaling it statistically less probable. Even worse, if she struggled at only the third grip—trying to land the twelfth or thirteenth grip in advance would be impossible. She would need to break the rock as she traveled up. It wouldn't work to do so beforehand.

"…Gah, this is aggravating!" She shrieked as her anger boiled. "Stupid Titans! I'll be damned if anyone finds this funny," She started to sling haphazard blasts onto the wall. However, she immediately stopped and collected her thoughts, knowing such behavior would only make it even harder to create sufficient holds. After all, she was carving into rock. She couldn't undo it if she butchered the process.

She would need a new plan.

In her mind's eye, she pictured that ignorant fool Starfire. Perhaps the redhead could teach her something. Jinx smirked as she walked to a completely different section of wall on the opposite side of the cavern to try a different strategy. It would involve some trial and error, so she gave herself a large section of practice-wall to work with.

The wicked girl collected power into her hands, as she concentrated on shaping a significant amount of bad luck into a small bubble. She tried to mimic the shape of the alien's star bolts, using pink energy instead of green. It was completely foreign to her design. Needless to say, her power over bad-luck was _never_ designed to collect. As the orb of energy grew to a significant size, the bad-luck collected to the point of chaos. It violently exploded, causing Jinx to scream out in surprise and jump back in fear. She had to check all of her fingers a fourth time over to ensure she hadn't lost one.

"Dammit!" she screamed, before trying again. Another explosion.

A third explosion.

By the ninth time, she didn't let the energy collect. As it was just beginning to collect to a large enough mass to be seen with the naked eye, she brought her hand to the wall and quickly let go of it. The wall chipped away in response, cracking in a lightning bolt shape.

Unfortunately, this plan involved a lot of bad luck in a small area very close to her cursed fingers, meaning it involved a lot less control on her part. It definitely wouldn't produce as good a gripping as her previous method. However, it functioned as her only option. After a little bit of further practice—and maybe two dozen attempts to get it right—she finally developed a manageable system. The jagged lightning bolt shape was deep enough that fingers—or feet—could slip inside.

It would take her a while, but she could build her own hand gripings and footholds as she climbed upward.

_Practice is over. _

Jinx sat back and fell to the ground in an exhausted heap. The girl was already tired and she hadn't even started the hard part. It was uncomfortable, but she pulled herself to her feet and tightened her fingers into fists. Jinx had to hurry. She didn't know when her captors might return again. If Raven magically popped into the room while she was climbing the wall, they would be alerted of her plan. Her idea would ultimately fail and the villain's only outing might be ruined.

Jinx inspected the sizable wall she would soon scale, mapping out a mental picture of the way she might do it. She considered the best possible areas to place her holds and developed a reasonable plan of attack. The process of creating energy ran through her mind, imagining herself pushing it into the wall and hoping to hell it worked in her favor repeatedly. She was mentally ready.

And yet, she looked down at her bare toes and frowned.

The rocky clasps she created were jagged and rough. They might cut into flesh if she brushed her body against it the wrong way.

Now, the number one pressing issue was her bare feet. The whole exposure of her feet was very unladylike and it bothered her. Beastly, in fact. It was horrifying to think that she might walk around with her perfectly manicured toes not propped up in a sandal. Dirt would collect and cause an unsightly buildup of grim against her soles.

Yet, as much as her nails worried her, there was a bigger issue. Her soft toes were at a disadvantage against sharp rock. No matter how she planned to scale the wall, slipping would be inevitable. No matter how careful or pristine she made her way up, her feet would slide against each hold. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Perhaps the only thing she hated more than the tips of her hair hitting her fucking shoulders—Jinx wished she had something to tie her hair up into twin pony tails—she hated the sight of her own blood more. She would rather not cut her feet in the process. Wounds on her feet could jeopardize the whole escape. Even a small lesion would make it hard to run away. Limping would be deadly.

An idea struck her. Jinx went to the bucket still resting against the wall. With her powers, she stripped off the rope handle at the top and divided it into two even sections using her powers as a knife. She walked to her pillow and grabbed the pillowcase. She slid the stiff cushion out of the pillowcase, letting it plop to the ground.

Jinx flattened the thin piece of pillowcase fabric on the ground. With her powers, she made a tiny notch in the fabric. She then grabbed both sides of the pillowcase and pulled it roughly apart. The material crudely tore into two pieces of cloth roughly the same size. She folded one piece in half and stepped onto the double-backed sheet of cloth. She raised the edges around her foot, until it tapered around her leg. With one section of bucket-rope, she tied the cloth tightly around her right shin. She did the same for her left foot.

They were terrible shoes, but they would act as a little bit of comfort against the sharp rock. In fact, they were just thick enough that they might add a tiny bit of protection against her climb. Even if they didn't, it was the best she could do with the materials given.

Jinx tested her new shoes by walking over to the remaining case-less pillow cushion. She picked it up and threw it over to where the sheet of blanket lay on the ground. It would probably serve no good, but it was better than nothing. If she happened to fall, perhaps she'd land on the pillow and only half-die. Though, that would require luck…

_Something I don't have._

She took one last look at her surroundings. Just before she turned her back to leave, she saw the metal spoon resting on the tray and quickly walked to it.

The metal spoon was an important tool. Although she couldn't put it to practical use now, it was much too valuable to leave behind. She grabbed it, and tried to think of a convenient way to carry it on her. Her pants were too loose to tuck it against the elastic and they certainly had no pockets. She obviously couldn't hold it either.

Instead, she slid it into her right cloth shoe against the rope, so that the metal head just barely stuck out. It seemed sturdy and would hopefully stay with her the full journey. She also wanted to bring the plastic tray because it looked useful, even though it was exceptionally unreasonable to do so. She dismissed the idea and began her climb.

Jinx had long since drowned out the faint drops of water that splashed in the distance. She couldn't even hear it anymore.

_Just try and stop me._

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	6. Book I: Chapter V

Book I: Chapter V

* * *

She was charged with the special duty of filling out paperwork. They were a series of waivers and forms that somehow ensured due justice of law. Raven had to document everything she could remember during the encounter, even down to the mundane details like the clothes that all proponents wore, or the amount of clouds in the sky that she could reliably recall. They were needless details, but the more information she could plaster on the paper, the more likely they could pin charges to the suspect at a later date. Raven had to agree at least on one account, even three days after a crime, events have a tendency to blur together. Specific assurances begin to lose legitimacy. Hell, it happened often enough among their very team, Beast Boy might giggle about the strange denim jacket of 'that one enemy' three weeks ago, yet Raven distinctly remembered a blue sweater.

Relying on the witness's ability to recall events even a couple days after the crime had occurred could pose a problem. In this way, the Mayor required all criminal events to be documented by those involved as soon as physically available—so she sat, pen in hand, stacks of paper in her lap. It was often like this. Either she, or Robin, might end up pulling an all-nighter filling out the boxes of paperwork that went along with every case. There was certainly an advantage to being in Beast Boy or Starfire's shoes. They never had to worry about this kind of headache.

Raven half-resented Robin's cruel, teasing nature, who had called it a 'night' early, leaving the girl to deal with the tedious and tiresome assignment on her own. He had done it with a smirk on his face, casually replying, "It doesn't look like we'll get paid for this. So, I'm going to pass on the pay-per work this time. I'm sure you'll be fine," as he sneaked out of the Mayor's office. Not to say that she didn't deserve it, she had ducked out of paperwork a few times before. Still, she would deliberately get back at him for his aggrevating behavior. Perhaps next time, he'll be the one sitting on the footstool, hunched over an office counter, trying to decide if the wind at the scene of the crime was closer to "lightly chilly," or if it instead classified as "uncomfortable". Of all the things she could be doing with her time, there was certainly no better way of wasting it.

What aggravated her more was that the paperwork was just a formality. It wasn't even a necessity this time around. It was already clear that Jinx had done the crime. There were no doubts. She would be the accused, regardless of how Raven filled out the "hair color" checkbox on the associated form. She could have bubbled in for the suspect 'brunette' hair and 'green' eyes and not a single police officer, investigator or court juror would ever see it. Raven was going through the motions, using the proper channels and the legal protocols, but for no reason other than to give the court a particular illusion of legitimacy.

Oh yes, it was a fun night, dealing with the state police. She loved spending hours discussing with government idiots, standing around, waiting for people to finish their part of the process. In fact, she was so very happy, she felt herself grinding her own teeth in what couldn't possibly be irritation. Earlier that night, the argument she had with the Mayor had gone sour to the point of complete disrespect on both parties. Robin had to jump in pleasantly and act as the fairer kind, the more composed and more willing to compromise Titan.

Raven tried to protest when Jinx was drugged, but neither the Mayor nor Robin would have it any other way. Jinx was a hardened criminal and transporting her sober and mobile would be a serious risk to all. It made sense. She could understand Robin's assertion that a drugged Jinx was a safe Jinx. Though, she still thought it was an inhumane way to treat a prisoner. It was only a small point that Raven quickly brushed aside when she found out the real desires of the mayor.

Raven starkly protested when she found out the girl would be the first 'experiment'. Jinx was hardly bad enough to deserve such a harsh sentence—well, rather, nobody really deserved such a fate, but that was hardly the point. However, it was yet another argument she couldn't win. The mayor was dead-set on trying the new strategy. Robin had originally sided with Raven, but the Mayor called Robin's sense of justice into question when he even considered arguing against the location of Jinx's imprisonment. Of course, the argument wasn't that Jinx deserved to be locked up. It went without saying Jinx deserved to stay in custody. It was practically impossible to suggest that a criminal—one charged with setting an orphanage on fire, no less—was fit for the streets. If all parties agreed she deserved a fair trial and a sentence, then none would possibly dispute holding her in a temporary cell until her trial.

This was unanimous. The point of argument was instead the location of her temporary holding cell before the girl's trial. It was in no way humane, but knowing Jinx's track record of having never been kept in jail for more than a few hours…even on this point, it was neigh impossible to dispute the Mayor without seeming anti-justice. As much as they hated it, it was the job of the Titans to uphold the law, protect the innocent, and keep the violent from instigating more problems. If Jinx would simply break out, then holding her anywhere was pointless. In this case, perhaps the special holding cell really would keep Jinx out of trouble, regardless of how cruel the circumstances were.

Raven knew she was lying to herself, but the logic was there. Although it was hardly right, the girl had done some pretty fucked up shit this time around. Without extensive questioning, there was no way to know what Jinx had actually done. Burning an orphanage down? Killing three children; burning several others? Surely nobody would go that low. If her intent was to cause mayhem by targeting the weakest and most defenseless creatures, perhaps Jinx had even deserved a death sentence…

The cloaked girl shook her head. Jinx was a petty criminal who only cared about physical wealth and a lavish lifestyle of freedom and gluttony. The criminal girl had never killed a single soul in her life. The evidence against Jinx was insurmountable to the point where it was pretty clear she was the cause, but perhaps there was more to her story. Raven would have to talk with the pink haired girl to get a full picture.

For now, Raven refused to label Jinx a murderer. All were innocent until proven guilty—regardless of how heinous the accused stood. Even if she had seen Jinx with her own eyes that night…Raven refused to label the girl a murderer until they might speak face-to-face. Perhaps she was naïve, but she refused to believe anyone was that evil. Even Jinx.

"Raven, that will be everything. Take her, now."

Raven blinked twice, as if suddenly awakening from her thoughts. She looked at the Mayor and nodded solemnly. It was a terrible position, following the commands of such a man, but it was only a temporary maneuver.

Raven did as she was told; she transported the criminal.

* * *

He felt a little dazed. His headache had grown to an uncomfortable throbbing behind his temple. Beast Boy tapped his hand against his bedsheet as he lay there, trying to sleep. His shifted onto the right side of his body and he curled his legs so that his heels rest just beneath his butt.

Beast Boy kept his eyes tightly shut, peering beyond the darkest depths of his closed eyelids. The boy let a slight sigh escape his lips as he tried to drown out the little voices in his head. The voices and the thoughts that swirled were louder than the soft voices of his friends who were still talking, from elsewhere in the tower. His friends seemed so close and yet so far away, meeting and discussing, constructing a dialog of no importance to him. His mind would not stop churning, and his thoughts seemed circular in shape. Every few minutes, each memory or mental conversation would return to Raven.

Today had been one of the most bizarre days he had ever experienced. The team had stopped so many criminals that they had surpassed their own record. They had maxed out at 47 successful acts of heroism in a single night, protecting their town from some of the bigger threats that had appeared. Yet, even after this apparent success—the success that Robin had told him to believe in, and ignore the other feelings that bubbled in his heart—he felt like the team had failed. Some of the criminals had gotten away. No matter how hard they had tried, they could not stop everything. They could not do their job and protect everyone. There were at least twelve crimes that remained unaccounted for. A team of five was just not big enough.

It was a helpless feeling, knowing that even as refined heroes who had done this job for many years, the Titans were still within the realm of inexperience. These 'huge criminal event things' would become the new threat. Robin would force them all to train, practice and predict in order to overcome the flaws of the team's design. Fun days playing video games leisurely would be a thing of the past. Work might be more frequent, with training more frequent still. More work meant less safety. The team might even split up from now on and fight alone. It seemed as if everything the Titans stood for might be falling apart.

Raven never came back. Robin had given her the duty of subduing Jinx. That had been a few hours ago. Beast Boy felt a bit uneasy knowing that some of the Titans had gone to bed when one of their own was still in the city. Although Raven had called the team an hour ago, giving them the 'okay', saying her mission was a success, Beast Boy still felt anxious. She was transporting Jinx—a terrible person who had done such a terrible thing. Someone who deserved no redemption for what she had done. What if Raven got hurt?

_When's she getting back? What's keeping her? She took Jinx to jail like hours ago! It doesn't take this long. It definitely doesn't take this long to put a bad guy in a holding cell! Something must be keeping her… _Beast Boy sat up from his bed and cast the gray comforter aside. _Is she really alright? I hope the Mayor is protecting her._

Beast Boy would wander the night, thinking to himself about the events that unfolded. It wouldn't be until the dawn began to rise that he would hear of Raven's return. Soon after, he would hear that she had gone to Robin's office to discuss 'private matters'. He would succumb to his curiosity.

* * *

Raven watched Jinx sleep.

It was a bit surprising to see the pink haired girl so easily subdued. Her lips were slightly parted and her arms lightly hugged her own body. The little girl looked so peaceful, with loose eyelids and steady breathing. Her hair draped against her pale cheeks. The experience felt offsetting for Raven. Jinx was mellow and calm, grimy and crude; Jinx was pretty, even without makeup.

Raven eyed the transformation in disbelief. It was hard to even fathom that the hardened HIVE criminal could be the girl sleeping in front of her. Perhaps the Mayor's idea was right, after all. Maybe the way to restrain villains really was to beat the shit out of them, knock them up with heavy drugs, throw them in an impenetrable tomb, and wait until they drown.

_Sarcasm._

"If it were my choice, you wouldn't be in here," the cloaked girl whispered.

The experience was disheartening. The Titans were in the business of catching criminals. Raven knew these guys were terrible people who did not deserve the regular freedoms of normal citizens. They did not deserve to walk the streets for the crimes they commit. They needed to be punished for their deeds—these were the very foundations for the justice system that Raven so strongly supported. And yet…she never wanted to treat them like animals.

The scene before her screamed inhumane.

But she would follow the rules.

She would follow the law.

Albeit counterintuitive, Raven wanted to see the plan fail. It would be a nice surge of spite to the Mayor, who's head had grown too large in recent months. Had his plan failed, he might even abandon the idea altogether and return to his almost tolerable previous politics. Raven frowned.

If she could use any single word to describe Jinx, she would have used the word 'prideful.' Jinx was full of spite, grace and femininity, but she was a girl of pride beyond anything else. She looked uncomfortable, sleeping on the hard stone floor with nothing to cushion her back. Raven quietly walked closer to Jinx and set a tray of food on the ground next to her. It was a special meal.

She knew Robin wanted answers. Raven's real goal and only true mission—besides now being physically tied as Jinx's only possible caretaker, and only person capable of feeding her—was to secretly interrogate the HIVE operative. Raven needed to ask questions, very important, pressing questions regarding the prior events. It was a mission of utmost importance and urgency. It might lead to insights on Criminal Explosion Day…was she a part of it? Was she the grand finale? Did she intend to cause such harm, or had everything gone wrong?

Raven felt sympathy for the criminal who looked so exhausted and beaten up. Jinx seemed to be graciously taking advantage of her ability to sleep. Soon, Jinx might not even have that luxury. "I'll ask at the next meal," Raven muttered to herself as she turned her back on the slumbering girl and phased through the wall. As she traveled from the holding-cell and into the outside world, she wondered if this might become Jinx's permanent home…

* * *

Robin's eyes narrowed. "I hear you checked up on her."

"A few hours had passed," Raven replied.

"So, how did it go? What did you find out?"

"I wasn't able to speak with her. She was sleeping."

Robin frowned. "What do you mean you weren't able to speak with her? Raven, we need to know. Was this a concentrated attack, or was it spontaneous? You know that children were hurt. Was this an accident, or did she intend to kill?"

"Yes, Robin. I know. I'll ask in a few hours."

"Raven, listen to me!" He rose his voice. Robin seemed stressed and exhausted. His eyes were bloodshot and bags had formed under his eyes. "Time matters! There's no telling what the Mayor might do next. If you don't find out more information, he will KILL Jinx. It's in her own best interest for you to ask, even if it _disturbs her sleep_."

"I know, Robin. I know. Next time, I'll wake her if necessary, before the Mayor can do anything," Raven kept her head bowed low as she replied. "I will talk with her." Raven turned her back on the boy wonder and went to leave the room. As she reached to grab the doorknob, she heard frantic movement from behind the door.

* * *

It was slightly past sunrise.

Raven sat alone, staring out the window of her room. Political issues kept her up all night. They were unrelated to her, yet she was in the middle of them. Her powers were taken advantage of and used as a tool for desperate politics. The Mayor had used her because she was the only one capable of giving him what he wanted. The dark girl wished she didn't have to deal with any of it. They were problems that leaders faced. She was no leader. She didn't even want glory, or power, or notoriety. She just wanted to protect those who could not protect themselves. She wanted to live without guilt as she had carried too much guilt for far too long—Sometimes, that Naive Beast Boy took what he had for granted.

The Mayor had sprung an odd ultimatum on the team. For the first time, he had hinted that government spending on superheroes might be a waste of taxpayer's money. The recent "Criminal Explosion Day" was a sign of things to change, and a direct example of superhero inefficiency.

The argument was simple. Heroes are only good at combating super villains. When there are no super villains, heroes are not necessary. In all fairness, after the defeat of Slade, the true purpose of the Titans had diminished. They had no real opposition. They were there almost symbolically to state that any new criminals would have to face an established and united team of heroes. However, as time went on and the specialized criminals began to diminish, so too did the employment opportunities for the Titans.

The Mayor intended to capitalize on Criminal Explosion Day, using it as an excuse to represent the shortcomings of the team. It was simple basics. Five people simply cannot stop thirty petty thieves. The one advantage of an established police force is their strength in numbers. They are in a far better position and are more apt to combat a large group of wrongdoers.

The words of the Mayor's public speech last night in accordance to the dangerous rise in criminal activity continually looped in her head. He had declared to all: _"The new mode of criminal dynamics is a squabble between common men. The major actors are police officers and local heroes, against thieves and petty criminals. There is no room for any team of heroes who fight with excessive violence, abuse expensive leniencies, and expend priceless lives."_

What plagued Raven more was that the Mayor was trying to do a good thing. He genuinely believed removing the super villains would make the city safer; he was right. Unfortunately, it came through the context of the Mayor's selfish behavior. He didn't only care about making the town safer. He also cared about his own political status. Removing the Titans was a prize that the Mayor could add to his shelf of accomplishments—proof that his management was more efficient and more eloquent and even safer than any previous government official.

He wanted the Titans gone, but he also wanted the city safe. He was despicably selfish, but opposing him would be taking a hypocritical and selfish approach. First, Raven couldn't help but feel opposing him would be fighting for the right to have super villains. That in itself was an evil thing. She had to agree with him, super villains should be stopped. If the Titans are no longer necessary when the Titans do their job too well—then that was the price the Titans had to be willing to pay. Raven had to agree: locking up evil men and women was the right thing to do, even if it would eventually put the Titans out of work. They couldn't be petty enough to oppose the Mayor for their own best interest, that was hypocritical. Heroes had to follow the rules: the law. They listened to mayors, governors and presidents. They did as they were told. Heroes upheld current litigation. It is those that oppose the laws that are true criminals and if she intended to be a woman of justice, she would have to abide by the representative law.

It didn't stop Raven from briefly contemplating what she should do if the laws themselves were evil. Should she follow an unjust ruler? Opposing the law of the land would be a criminal behavior. Perhaps criminals themselves were people who opposed current laws and believed in different ones.

She dismissed the question as irrelevant. Laws and morality were beating around the bush. She wasn't in the position to make universal claims on sophomoric philosophy. The bottom line was indisputable. The safety of the people came first, no exceptions. As of now, following the Mayor's plans would bring about safety as the final goal. Following the Mayor's plan would be a selfless action on her part. It might result in the destruction of her own team. Similarly, following the Mayor's plans was a sacrificial action that might result in the death of several criminals. These were the burdens she would have to bear for the end result: a safer, happier city.

The ends justifies the means, even at the expense of humans—villains and criminals—who would likely receive a death sentence without the right to a fair trial. It was this thought in particular that made her think the Mayor was an evil man.

However, she had not yet made up her decision. It was not too late. Things had not gone too far. She could stop it all, once she made up her mind. She could rebel against the Mayor, or protect Jinx. There was still a lot of time before anything at all might happen to the pink-haired criminal. A lot of time to agonize, to decrypt, and to debate.

Raven rubbed her eyes, feeling exhausted as she watched the sun rise even higher into the sky. She would not sleep for another day. She had business to attend. Robin would not sleep as well, possibly in a mental debate of his own.

...and now, Beast Boy probably wouldn't sleep either. Raven sighed. It is always best to bear things on your own. Burdening Beast Boy was a sign of her own weakness, and she had done him a great injustice, even if he didn't know what he was talking about.

_"If you agree with him, then you're horrible, Raven..."_

—

/If you have the time, please leave me a review. I appreciate your thoughts!


	7. Book I: Chapter VI

Book I: Chapter VI

* * *

Jinx clung to the wall like a spider, feeling the breeze spill out over her fingertips. The ache in her shoulders kept her from moving too fast, yet her fingers itched with anticipation. She made certain not to slip her eyes downward, knowing that her precarious position required utmost concentration. Had the slightest mistake occurred in her grip, she risked falling backward, sliding away from the wall; plummeting downward. The crudely crafted handgrips would be too hard to grasp during a freefall. It would be all too unfortunate, considering she was so close to freedom.

The girl's curled fingers gripped the unfamiliar ledge tighter, slowly helping her head ascend beyond the rocky lip. She hoped her eyes might aid her direction, but they could determine no distinctions. The light was too far down the depths of the shaft to illuminate her path. Every movement required a blind reach of faith to establish her bearings. In as much grace as her tired arms could muster, she rose her elbows onto the inlet's ledge and slid her forearms against the stone. She accented her body weight with her right shoulder, lifted her right foot off its foothold, then promptly raised her foot to a temporary hold where her right hand had once been. She similarly rose her left foot to the respective hold, slid her feet into place, and leaned forward.

The enclosure was small, less than half her height. She should not sufficiently crawl into the darkness. She had to instead lean forward, tuck her head under the sharp rock above, and twist her body into the gap. Her feet remained on the holds, but she leaned on her hands to support her bodyweight.

It was pitch black. She leaned farther to completely crawl into the opening and bring her back relief, but her head slammed against something hard. Something that gave off a slight thud; something that was not rock. It was metal. Her left hand fingered the material. It was an air vent. She guessed it was made out of a material like steel. The metal lay in a slotted groove, like a window without enough room to slide open. From the side that she faced, she couldn't pop it out. However, she guessed that someone standing from the other side of the gate might be able to roughly push forward and cause the vent to pop out of its grooves. Jinx tried to grab the vented gaps with her fingernails, but the gaps were too small. She tried to claw at the edges, attempting to peel back an edge to hook it out of the slotted grooves that held the vent firm, but there was no leverage. She tried pounding on it, but only managed to cause muffled noise.

For an ordinary man, it might be impossible to open the gate from the current position. It was hard enough to raise an arm and inspect the surrounding area without falling backward and to her death. However, she found it peculiar that the vent had no lock. There was a hole for where a padlock might be able to slip in, but it was empty. She knew nobody was this shortsighted. Valuables were never kept in an unlocked safe. There's always a lock, somewhere. If the only way out doesn't have a lock, it meant there was an alternative safety precaution. Perhaps the alternative safety mechanism was so significant—possibly even deadly enough—that the makers overlooked the padlock, thinking it was an unnecessary measure.

They knew the prisoner. They knew a padlock wouldn't hold a girl who had the power to break pistons and shatter metal bars. So, maybe it was rational to keep the vent unlocked. However, that begged the question of why there was a vent in the first place. Why not an empty hole? If there was no attempt to lock the vent, it was as good as nonexistent. It provided relatively no additional security. It was useless. All it did was slow her down, and make her damned back ache slightly more. Why would they leave her in an unlocked room? Hard to escape or not, someone so methodical and sadistic would never design Fort Knox without an additional failsafe. An air vent was not the pinnacle of 'maximum security'. In fact, it was at a lower tier than iron bars…hell, it was worse than a glass window.

_It's like they built a giant killer robot with a fuckin' 'off switch' on the back. _The idea kinda pissed her off. _I can totally take advantage of this. But, do they want me to?_

The padlock hole taunted her. The vent bellow 'I'm unlocked!' It screamed 'bust out: escape through me, freedom is oh so close!'

_No._ It was wrong. There was something else. Jinx frowned. There had to be something more to the vent. It was the only thing that separated her from prison and freedom. Her frown deepened as she tried to glance through the vent to the other side. It was a lot of dark. Dark and cold. The drip of water could be heard, echoing through the tunnel. Her fingers begged to unleash a wave of bad luck that would shatter the metal hinges and reveal her glorious freedom, yet the girl couldn't help but pause in fear. What stops her from blasting through the vent with her powers? If they designed the actual holding cell to combat her bad luck—which she knew for a fact they had thus far done an excellent job doing—it wasn't likely they got lazy toward the end. They followed through. This cell: it was complete.

Her mind was already considering the most likely alternative. They booby trapped the vent.

_A trap._

Her back was aching worse. She couldn't stay like this for too much longer. She would have to throw caution to the wind and shatter the gate.

She hesitated.

Jinx began to think through her 'knowns', trying to pinpoint the obvious that she had overlooked. There was at least one critical element of unknown. She had no idea what was on the other side of this vent. Was it a long cavern? A narrow archway? A false lead? A metal, narrow shaft? A stick of dynamite rigged on a pressure system? There was no telling.

It's possible that if she exploded the vent open, it would carry a loud noise through a metal shaft to a possible guard on the other side. Right now, her stealth functioned as her only advantage. If she was found to be missing, or rattling around in vents, the people who kept her locked up would obviously know how she got out. They would know where this vent led: they would be waiting. In other words, if she tipped them off by being loud, she was fucked. Likewise, perhaps they had planned this escape all along. It was a bit of a sadistic idea, but anyone intimate enough to know the way that Jinx's power sprawled from one inch to the next—like a spider's web, covering everything but never focusing on any particular part of the wall—one might know that there would be considerable runoff if she blasted the vent open. All it would take is a little bit of gunpowder or some kind of explosive on the other side of the vent, exposed yet hidden in dark. If she wasn't careful, it would explode, rupture her escape, and destroy her possibly only source of air.

Sadistic. Nobody was that cruel. And yet…there was a sinking suspicion that the scrupulous fiend who set up this cage would never make a glaring oversight. They knew this vent existed. They had to expect Jinx to eventually find it. Jinx would have to be uncharacteristic, else she would play directly into their plan. A trap or not, she had no way of knowing. However, she did know her powers were probably not a good idea. Everyone would expect it. Instead, she reached for her right sock and pulled out the metal spoon. She grabbed the utensil by the head and slipped the long section of metal through the narrow gap. Using what little leverage she could muster, she began to lift the vent out of its slot and then ease it toward her chest until it popped out of place. She carefully gripped the gating, then leaned it flat against the rocky wall.

She tucked the spoon back into her padded sock with a smile. Jinx carefully climbed over the vented gate—being sure not to knock it down and cause a shitload of noise—and slipped through the narrow gap.

Nobody could have predicted that one. Nobody.

She continued onward.

* * *

The dark sprawled with limitless restrain, crawling and crawling against her flesh. The winds seemed to twirl the darkness and scatter the smell of rotting birds. The sounds of crowing could be heard in the indefinite distance. Her hands pushed harder, clung tighter and grew number. Her back screamed as her shoulders heaved her body higher up the shaft. The spiraling slope seemed to slither like a python with no end in sight. Not that it was a good unit of measure in the first place, she had been without sight since she had first left her cozy little prison cell. Part of her yearned for those stressful moments of comfort. The physical aches that filled her blistering body had reached a point of nearly exasperated agony.

Jinx had been crawling for hours now. The tunnel had stopped being horizontal perhaps a thousand yards earlier. It now sloped upward and the walls grew narrower as she scaled the escape route. Her forearms, fingers and knees felt raw as they raked against the unpolished stone. The darkness that clung to her clothes stunk with sweat. She began to feel claustrophobic, wishing she could teleport to safety. There came a point where going through the motions of escaping had become ridiculous. This was no longer a point of reasonable difficulty. This was ridiculous in every sense of the word. Her own thoughts haunted her. Would she make it out anytime soon? Would the gap get so narrow she'd become stuck? Her upward trend seemed to produce a narrower shaft. After an hour further, the tunnel was soon about three feet wide in all directions. It was a tight fit. Her knees slammed against rough stone as she crawled upward, knocking her elbows hard into the rock to propel herself further. It hurt, but she progressed. It felt like a vertical climb, yet the wall was narrow enough that she could plant her pillowed feet against one wall, her back against the other, and use her arms to scale the wall slowly. It was slow, but safe.

Before long, she feared looking down. There was hardly ground to stand on. One wrong slip would be like jumping off a tall bridge, or perhaps falling down a thousand flights of stairs. She would likely die.

It was a while longer before her fingers gripped around the edges of the top and she lifted herself out. The thought of being free hardly registered in her mind. But a smile grew upon her face the very second it came to mind. Jinx took a few steps back and admired the hole in the ground that she had fled. It resembled a manhole without a lid. It was a bit dangerous, wasn't it? A giant hole with no warning signs. If someone accidentally stepped in, they would probably die. She wondered how the Titans could be so stupid as to have such a safety hazard lying around.

The girl surveyed the room and realized she was still in a cave, except this cave was a bit different. It was brighter, but not because it was lit up by electric lights. Part of the cave opened up into broad daylight. She stifled a quiet shriek of joy. It was the end of her struggles. The girl was free. Jinx casually walked out of the cave and into the sunshine. It hurt her eyes to take in the bright sun, but she forced her lavender orbs to take in the relentless light. She began to squint and the beginnings of tears leaked from her eyes. She raised her right arm as a shield to withstand the bright light.

Her feet came to a halt at the edge of the large cliff as she looked down at the valley of rocks below. Rocks and mountains were a common occurrence in California, but Jump City was far away from most of that. Their city was on the coast, miles from such a rocky location. She was baffled. "How did I even get here? Where the hell is Jump City? Is this some kind of joke?" Her voice cracked. She was high off the ground, far too high to jump. There were only the slight speckles of trees in the distance, making her stomach feel a bit uneasy. Even if she found a way down, she wouldn't know which direction to walk.

From the edge of the cliff, she could see a few other caves much like her own scattered below. Jinx frowned. "How many of these fucking tombs are they making?" She wondered. "This is ridiculous! Jump city comes later...how do I get down from here? I'm free…But…how do I..._get away?_" She whined and stomped her padded feet in frustration. Time was running out. If Raven returned, the escape would fail. Jinx had to hurry. The girl had to get out, get away, and succumb to hiding.

Jinx could see no reason to scale the mountain higher. Down was her destination, but short of blasting away at the rock and tearing her own way out, there weren't a lot of options. Her eyes lingered at one of the cave entrances toward her left. Was there someone else housed in them? Was she the only one locked away? It wasn't unreasonable to believe that maybe Gizmo and Mammoth had been with her when she was arrested. Her memories were still fuzzy, and she couldn't quite make out what had actually happened. If she left and returned home, what if they weren't there? It would mean they were somewhere in that maze of tunnels. _But I can't possibly search for them now. There's no telling where they could be. Which cave? There's tons of them. I gotta bank on them being okay._ _Go home first. If they aren't there, I'll get the tools necessary to free them. _She nodded. It was better to trust her friends now, than to assume they failed and risk herself being caught. They were more than capable. She didn't need to babysit them. After all, she kept them trained and well-managed. She might go as far as to suggest they were infallible, but she supposed even the best had their faults.

She looked for a ledge down below she could reach. It was a bit risky, but she saw that one of the cave entrances toward her right looked within jumping distance. However, she couldn't quite make out how far she would fall before hitting the ground. If it was too far, it could prove to be a painful—or lethal—drop. Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a choice. She had to do it. The acrobat took a running jump and pushed off the side of the mountain to give herself just enough horizontal movement. As she neared the ground, she tucked her head near her chest and rolled to lessen the impact. It was actually a relatively short jump by her standards. She trained daily to withstand vertical drops twice as severe.

The girl surveyed her new location. Although she was closer to the ground, she was still exceptionally high up. It took several calculated jumps and a few blasts of her power to create footholds to scale the mountain fully.

When she made it to the floor, Jinx was out of breath, not only because of her mountain scaling, but because of the whole event. The whole day seemed to escape the girl like a troubled dream escapes a started child. "That was…brutal…this whole thing…brutal…" she choked out, before tilting her head back and stretching her arms. "But I'm alive and free. Now, where do I go?"

It wasn't long before she was out of the forest and into the city.

* * *

It was nighttime and far past closing hours when she had made it back to the city. She casually surveyed the abandoned street and made sure she wasn't being watched when she went around to the back, popped out a window and entered the shop from behind. She was without her uniform and wearing exceptionally uncomfortable prison clothes, which meant she unfortunately didn't have a key to open the shop's front door. She would replace the window when she was in a better mood. It had been a little less than two months since the three of them—Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx—broke away from the HIVE FIVE and reestablished their original trio. The process itself was messy. The six members did not part on good terms. Jinx had thrown a fit, screaming at the total lack of responsibility and reliability of her teammates. See-More, Billy Numerous and Kid Wykkyd seemed more interested in gaming than establishing a valuable criminal reputation. When she tried to get them to quit the bullshit and start helping the team, Billy Numerous had expressed his deepest disagreement perhaps twenty times too many. He multiplied himself to repeat the phrase: "Light'n up girl, we're only here 'ta have a little fun" enough times to push Jinx past the boiling point.

She stormed out screaming: "Fine! I'm out of here. I'm done playing babysitter." She didn't expect Gizmo and Mammoth to follow her out. But when they did, she cherished the moment. Together, the original team reunited, effectively splitting the old HIVE FIVE into two teams of three operatives. The development was new enough that Robin probably didn't know such an important piece of information. At least, Jinx wasn't bragging about it. She wanted to keep the split as secret as possible, especially in a world where information was everything. This was just one of their current advantages over the Titans: access to valuable information.

They temporarily relabeled themselves the "New HIVE FIVE"—partially because they were too lazy to come up with a new team, but mainly because it would act as a good cover should Robin or anyone overhear the three casually discussing team plans. It would be all-too-perfect if Robin found out about the new "HIVE Trio"; it would blow up their advantageous position.

The new hideout was unlike anything they had used before. It was partly above ground, but mostly underground. Whereas the Titan facilities could be seen from miles in any direction, the HIVE Trio hideout was even bigger, but below sea level. From the untrained eye, the place looked like a little second-hand electronics store. Selling and fixing electronics was something of a part-time hobby for Gizmo, but more importantly, it helped them get rid of otherwise stolen goods. With an established shop in the middle of the city, they didn't have to worry about black markets to deal business. Of course, they weren't stupid. The three of them never dealt in commerce, they instead hired idiot teenagers to man the stores and sell everything. Nobody would suspect such an innocent little shop to harbor three elite HIVE Academy members. After all, according to HIVE Academy's rule #203: It is always better to blend in than to hide away. All in all, it was a rather fun little situation and Jinx wouldn't have it any other way.

She stumbled through the dark, walked past the counter and went to the elevator. She went to the lower level, then walked across the hall to the locked door. She typed in the security code, allowing entrance into the actual HIVE hideout. These precautions were in place so that other people—employee lackeys or nosey customers—couldn't accidentally stumble into such a top secret area.

"Gizmo? Mammoth? You two idiots still alive?" She yelled out as she walked from the entryway to the lounge. When she heard no response, her voice became more panicked. "You two weren't seriously got caught…right?" She asked as she stared up at the unused big-screen TV. It was a bit strange to see that useless thing unoccupied. They weren't in the lounge and that was definitely uncharacteristic. It was so uncharacteristic of her henchmen, she felt her mouth go dry as she tightened her fists. What would she have to do to get them back? What would she have to relive? What could she possibly bring to defeat her enemies, rescue her henchmen and return things to normal? What would she have to give to lie down in her bed and sleep? _Sleep would be so nice. Too nice._ She chewed on the inside of her cheek as her mind envisioned her cell. She would rather be Slade's bald, one-armed braindead puppet slavechild, than crawl back into that deadman's labyrinth; she meant every word of it, too. "I better not have to go back to that stupid prison to rescue you guys..." She muttered under her breath as she sighed. "Anyone okay? Anyone at all?"_  
_

"Hey, look who's back," Gizmo casually came from the kitchen. "Where were you? It isn't normal for you to leave for a few days like that."

Jinx's eyes fell onto the boy. A sense of relief filled her stomach. "That's one. Where's the other? Where the hell is Mammoth?"

She heard Mammoth grunt from the kitchen in the other room. "Ah, we were finishing up dinner. Guy's night out—figured you wouldn't be back, so we ordered crab."

"Gross…thankgod I wasn't invited. Crab is so disg... Wait a second! Fuck, you two didn't even look for me? God, you two are so useless! I could have been killed!"

"Look for you? Crud, you just stormed off and left. I thought you might want some girly alone-time or whatever it is you do. We trust you, Jinx. We know can handle yourself," replied Gizmo with a boyish grin. "It's not like you need saving."

"Yeah…I guess…" stammered Jinx, a bit embarrassed. "But shit went down. Like seriously, it..." She looked across the lounge, trying to peer into the kitchen. "Dammit Mammoth, get in here!" She yelled.

Mammoth poked his head through the kitchen doorway. "Okay, okay, I'm here," He grunted through a mouthful of crab.

"Like, really guys. This is serious! Listen to me, we need to figure some of this out."

"Woah, Jinx, you look totally freaked. You're pale...er, paler than usual. What happened?" asked Gizmo.

"I'm…not sure. I woke up in jail. No idea how or why. Not even a little bit."

"Yeah, it's a bitch when that happens," laughed Mammoth. "So how'dya break out this time?"

"No, not like that! Not jail, jail. This was way different. Like, here, I know I didn't go out drinking. I just…can't remember why I was there in the first place. I think they might have drugged me so I wouldn't be able to think up an escape plan. But still, we have more important shit to worry about. The cell I was in.."

"Woah, wait a minute Jinx. They drugged you? How do you know you even did anything wrong? You could have been set up," gasped Gizmo. "Who did this to you? There's no tellin' what crazies could have done..." His voice came to a stop.

Jinx clenched her fists. "God! Just listen to me for a second! It doesn't matter how I got there, or why I was there, or what happened that night, or anything. All that matters is WHERE THEY PUT ME! This concerns you guys!"

"Whad'ya mean _where_? Jail is jail. We've seen 'em all," Grunted Mammoth. "Get in, bust out."

"No Mammoth, this wasn't the normal kind of jail. This place was nuts."

Gizmo sighed, "Crud, you sound like you're losing your touch. You've said it before, there's no way those snotmutchers could design a prison we can't break out of. We're too smart for that. Take a deep breath, then tell us what happened."

"Shut up! You two are impossible! Stop talking and listen to me. This was no ordinary prison. They got that bitch Raven to create a hole in the middle of a fucking mountain. You wake up in there. There are no walls. No doors. No windows. No light. No food. It's so small you can barely move. It smells like a rotting dead cow. The air is so thin you feel like you'll choke. You try to get out, but the rock is too thick to smash. You can't even climb out! The room's shaped like a triangle. Good fucking luck climbing up those walls. The only way in and out is using that emo-wannabe's power to teleport."

Gizmo's eyes grew wide. "What? That...doesn't even make sense..."

"No, it doesn't, but it happened. This is serious. Apparently, the Titans are designing shit to keep us permanently locked up."

"Then how did you get out?" the boy asked.

"I had to climb out through a small vent near the very top. It took hours; it was hard work. I think I ripped off all my skin in the process," she muttered.

"Christ, no wonder you look terrible."

"Gee, thanks. What kind of shit greeting is that?"

"N-no, I...I just mean…Your hair...it's a mess. I've never seen you in clothes like that, and especially not ripped clothes…and…you're...you're wearing pillow cases for shoes?" stammered Gizmo, "It's not that you look bad—I'm just not used to seeing you like this, is all. You look different."

"Just leave me alone. I did what I had to do to get out of there. Fuck me for trying to be considerate. I know you two wouldn't be able to escape if you got caught. You're lucky I was the one to find out about this new shit because now we can combat this. You'd be damned out of luck if you were there without your jetpack or your precious technology. Remember that. You need me." She looked down at her clothes and blushed. Her belly button was poking out beneath her clothing and she could see a long scrape below it. Her hair wasn't up. She wasn't wearing makeup. Her nails were broken. Her padded feet...her blush reddened. " Whatever…I'm done here. We'll go over the specifics later."

She turned her back on the boys and stormed off to her room.

"Jinx! Wait, Jinx! You know I didn't mean it, right? You look fine! Really! Just, you're a little beat up. That's all...you always look fine, seriously..."

"Yeah…whatever."

* * *

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! They mean a lot.


	8. Book I: Chapter VII

Book I: Chapter VII

* * *

Dim light spilled out of the moon-shaped light fixture and poured over the room's ceiling. The illumination was just weak enough to create faint shadows that lingered around each corner of the room. Jinx sat quietly on her bed, staring at the murky pink wallpaper, focusing on the flower petals etched in baby blue ink. Her eyes seemed to drift around the different shapes of her room, before settling on a small patch of barren black plaster, and the tufts of wallpaper that ruffled away from the wall. As she slowly inhaled, she took in the soft smell of lavender perfume, before heaving a deep sigh.

Gizmo had handcrafted the wooden frames around her door; he had built her a large mahogany vanity; he had plastered the walls with pink wallpaper and hand-painted each flower. It was all an elaborate attempt for Gizmo to help Jinx reconcile her distaste with living underground. Oh, how she hated it—oh, how she deserved much better…and yet, she didn't have much of a right to complain. It was her own idea, after all. Jinx licked her lips, feeling thirsty, yet too exhausted to get up and get something to drink.

She eyed her simple room. A vanity dresser. A small bed. A little filing cabinet. A modest closet. A door. Her small living space felt extremely—bare. Vacant, even. It was inappropriately unaccommodating. She had grown accustomed to so much more, so many lavish and extraneous possessions. The girl felt uneasy, knowing she had left behind even her most precious jewelry. Jinx had abandoned her favorite arm chair, her music collection, thousands of articles of clothing, and at least ten dozen pairs of shoes. So many years of accumulated items, and yet none of it had found its way into the new HIVE hideout.

Jinx had abandoned most of her belongings upon the HIVE FIVE's divide, being limited due to the logistical constraints of travel. In order to maintain a low alert and reduce possible chances of detection, they were required to keep all movements on the down-low. After all, Cyborg likely kept watch of the HIVE hideout, waiting for further criminal activity. Should she start hauling her king-sized bed, her stereo, or her closet into the streets, Cyborg would likely get the message. She was henceforth forced to travel light, which never made for a happy Jinx.

Jinx looked at what had now become her only luxurious possession: her vanity dresser. It was pushed against the wall and shoved into the corner on the far wall opposite her door. The elaborate silver mirror rested on the mahogany wood of her vanity. She loved the beautiful engravings on the sides, and the sparkle of the silver gems that lined the mirror's rims. Her mirror was her most important possession—a necessity for daily survival. She had a rusting filing cabinet tucked near her vanity, but she didn't use it. The arm-length deep closet fit snugly on the wall adjacent to her vanity, yet barely held even the most basic collection of dresses. Her wretched, twin-sized bed rest in the center of the room, with barely enough walking space around each side. To say the least, Jinx knew she deserved better than her squalor, but she had made a noble sacrifice for the security of her team.

Her biggest upset with the bedroom was a lack of a window. She didn't even consider such a problem when she initially suggested an underground hideout. It was Gizmo who broke the news to her. He told her it would be impossible to hide a window conspicuously poking out of the ground…and attempt to call such a place a _secret_ hideout. Jinx made a mental note of this. Next time, they would design the HIVE Trio's Headquarters so that she could sleep under the stars. Fuck security—maybe a nice greenhouse effect would do the trick. With the right air conditioning, and enough strobe lights to light the moon, it would be one kickin' bedroom.

From her bed, she stared over at the mirror and analyzed her appearance. Gizmo was right. She looked awful. She had a few scrapes along her face and her hands were swollen. Her hair was still down and she had been too lazy to ditch the prison clothes. She took a deep breath and sighed. It was hard being a girl of crime.

Jinx roughly ripped the pillowcases off her feet and threw them across the room. She wiggled her toes in relief. She then opened her closet and sifted through a pile of clothes on the ground. Unbeknownst to anyone alive—secret even to the dead—was three shoeboxes underneath the clothing. Ordinary shoeboxes, identical in aesthetic ways, two of which used to store common pairs of shoes. The third, she picked up. Jinx opened the box and carefully pulled out a pink stuffed dog. It was one of the few processions she still had of her childhood, and she preferred to keep it hidden and unused. What kind of leader would cling to something so childish? She dared not let anyone know.

However, today was an exception. She lazily left the shoebox open on the floor, dragged the stuffed animal to her bed, and snuggled into her deep lavender bedding. She was too tired to take off her prison clothes. She was too exhausted to worry about her hair, or the fact that she needed at least three long baths to remove all the dirt caked around her body. She ignored all her worries and quickly fell asleep, hugging Gruffy the whole time.

It was good to be home, even if Gizmo was an asshole.

* * *

She awoke the next morning, took a shower, got dressed in a clean uniform, and spent an hour behind her mirror perfecting her makeup. Jinx went to the lounge and met up with Gizmo and Mammoth. They were, as usual, in the kitchen, making what looked like pan-fried potatoes.

"I gave it some thought, and I think I know how we can handle this mess," muttered Jinx.

"How?" asked Gizmo.

Jinx's eyes narrowed. "Well, let's put it this way. That bitch Raven is the 'key'. Those fools can't get in or out of their stupid jail without Raven's help. So…Remove the girl and the jail is useless."

"Great! Just remove Raven! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Spoke Gizmo in a sarcastic tone. "Crud, that doesn't help at all Jinx. If the Titans were so easy to remove, we'd have done it already. They're only like our biggest obstacle ever," he muttered.

"You think I don't know that? We were just going about it in the wrong way. There must be a solution…you know, some way to remove her from the team."

Gizmo shook his head. "No girl, there isn't. I've thought of everything. We ain't got nothing on those snotmunchers."

"Then think harder!" Jinx rubbed her eyes with her hands. "God, you're so useless!"

Mammoth grunted, catching both operative's attention. "Why are we fighting each other? Let's just crush the Titan's old school-style."

The girl looked at him in exasperation. "Mammoth, we've tried that plan like, a bajillion times. It's never worked before, so I don't see why it'll work now. We need a new strategy," growled Jinx.

"Fine, if you're so smart, what'cha got in mind?" Asked Gizmo.

She glared at the small boy. "Don't look at me! I'm not the little boy with the oversized head."

"Hey!" Gizmo whined.

Jinx continued. "I want Raven out of the picture. I don't care what it takes. I want her gone. I don't care how dirty, or how underhanded we have to be. Our future as criminals are at stake! It's about time we sent the Titans a message they'll never forget. We've been too soft in the past. We're too weak and honorable...And we call ourselves villains for Christ's sake! We've never had a plan that involved killing the Titans. Maybe, we've been holding back. Maybe, we have to kill her to be successful. With one less Titan, we would win every time…"

Gizmo's eyes opened wide at the sudden venomous tone of Jinx's voice. He bit his bottom lip before he spoke, and nervously dropped his eyes to the floor. "Damn Jinx...That's not even funny. We're just harmless crooks. We aren't murderers..."

Jinx's eyes went aflame. "Yeah, well they fucked with the wrong people for too long. Things change. You know we're not getting recognized at this rate. The big leagues laugh at us because of the Titans. It's time we put a stop to that. I've been deeply humiliated, and we can't let that go. Our pride as villains is at stake! If you have any concern for me at all, you will come up with a plan by tonight. Got it?"

"But…"

"NOW!"

* * *

Beast Boy's eyes slid open. He roughly threw his blankets off his bed and jumped to his feet. He stepped carefully over an unopened box of transformer action figures, an empty pillowcase, a stuffed teddy bear, and an office desk chair lying sideways near his bed. Beast Boy heard a loud crunch. He looked down and saw he had stepped on a bag of potato chips. The age of this food was unknown, but the sound of the chips giving way beneath his weight sparked a curious feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_Man, I'm starving_.

He looked to his window and gazed out at the blackened sky. He frowned as his stomach began to growl. _Aw man, I should be sleeping…but I'm so hungry! _An idea clicked in his mind. If only he knew what time it was, he might be able to catch a quick midnight snack and then pop back into bed. Somewhere amidst the hurricane—his room—was a small black box that would tell him the time of day. It was an alarm clock Raven had given him for Christmas. She had muttered something about how irresponsible it was that he never woke up on time, or something. The alarm didn't have a lot of use, but it made for a nice clock.

_Jeez, where do I start?_

The green boy frantically looked around his haphazard room. He eyed the poster of Jimmy Hendrix on his wall, glanced toward the six plastic army men lined up from shortest to tallest on his dresser, and even grabbed an unsolved Rubik's cube and tossed it behind his shoulder. _I know I put it around here somewhere. Dude, where could it be?_ He wondered to himself as he sorted through several years worth of treasure. The young boy bit his bottom lip and brought his hand to his chin. He tried to remember the last place he had seen the clock. _Okay, I know I used it yesterday. It totally woke me up at like eight in the morning! I must have accidentally set it the night before…_

He remembered being relatively frustrated at the rude awakening, causing him to slam it on the floor by his bed. _The floor!_ Unless it had sprouted wings, it would still be on the floor somewhere near his bunk bed. It was worth a look. He transformed into a green greyhound. His dog-form dug through a red-stitched sweater, sniffed a pile of assorted paper, and rolled around on a few pairs of jeans before a rough corner of plastic jabbed his back. Reverting to his human form, he found his alarm clock under his pants and next to a used sock. He glanced at the time.

It was nearing four in the morning.

"Geeze, did I even sleep last night? Dude, this is way too early to get up…But way too late for food!" He whined. "Man, the worst possible time to have the late-night munchies..." He considered going back to bed, but quickly dismissed the thought when his stomach growled again in protest. He wasn't very tired and hunger seemed to be more important. _Screw it, I'll make a tofu sandwich and hurry back to finish my beauty sleep. It'll only be a few minutes._

Beast Boy carefully stepped across his room, making sure he didn't crush anything else on the ground. He opened his door and looked down the long, darkened hallway. Even his sharp, animalistic eyes found it difficult to adjust in the darkness. Due to the Tower's high usage of power and the rising electric bills, Cyborg changed the way the tower used electricity at night. It was apparently due to the fact that some people in the tower had a difficult time remembering to turn lights off when they were done with them. Beast Boy shrugged. Cyborg had made the change earlier that week. He linked the light switches to the tower's security system. Once Cyborg locked up the tower for the night and put the building on lockdown, it would be neigh impossible to turn on the hallway lights. Of course, this posed a safety hazard in itself if the entire tower was a pitch-black deathtrap. So, during lockdown, one out of every six light fixtures down the vast hallway was set to give off a very dim, low-power glow. It was usable, but it was a strong inconvenience.

_Remind me to tell Cyborg to fix this…jeez, it's like impossible to see anything!_ He bickered to himself, trying not to run into the walls. He passed over a dimly shining fixture overhead and looked up at the weak brightness it gave off. He still couldn't see anything, even when he was directly under the light source. Spreading his arms out to touch the sides of the hallway—and certainly by no means extremely over-exaggerating the actual darkness of the hallway—he carefully made his way toward the lounge. He paused for a second before passing Raven's bedroom, knowing the kind of trouble he could get for being too noisy and waking her up. He held his breath. With three very carefully placed leaps, he half-tiptoed, half-jumped past her room in a series of loud thuds.

He reached the lounge door and tapped the four-digit security number required to unlock the living room door. The automatic sliding door opened. He quickly hissed and covered his eyes as the blaring florescent lights surrounded him. The sudden contrast from sightless hallway to dazzling living room made it very difficult to see anything at all. _Hehe, blinded by the light! _He was too impatient to wait for his eyes to readjust and decided to haphazardly stumble down two carpeted steps and through the little gap that led into the kitchen-part of the lounge. He then waited until he could fully see before opening the fridge, taking out the ingredients for his sandwich, and building his famous Tofu Stacker on the counter. He did not bother with a plate, but he did get a glass from the bottom cupboard and filled it with orange juice. Taking his tofu sandwich in one hand and the glass of juice in the other, he casually strolled into the lounge. The boy got ready to jump onto the long red couch and blast some TV. Yet, he stopped in his tracks when his eyes fell upon the lone figure resting peacefully on the couch perpendicular to his own.

He stood there looking at the girl. Her eyes were closed and her hands lightly gripped a thick book resting open against her stomach. The book rose and fell at a steady rhythm, rocking like a boat at sea. A lock of lavender hair draped against the side of her nose, a few strands spilled into her slightly parted lips. Beast Boy's jaw dropped open. A sudden wave of panic ran down his spine. _Raven? Sleeping here? Why?_ He wondered. _Oh crap, I was totally loud earlier…I didn't wake her, did I? She'll kill me! _Beast Boy leaned closer to her, inches away, and eyed her face. He peered over her slumbering body, knelt near her legs, and looked once again at her closed eyes. He inspected her hair, then double checked to ensure that her fingers hadn't twitched. He watched as she lay motionless; peaceful, even. She gave off a faint moan, as if calling out to a fading dream.

He jumped back in shock, arms covering his head. Raven's body shifted slightly to the right, and her cheek buried deeper into the couch.

Of all five heroes, Raven was the most irritable in the morning. It was never a pleasant moment when an early-morning alert awoke them. In these times, everyone had learned to leave the cloaked girl alone. Case in point, perhaps years ago, Beast Boy had thrown caution to the wind, trying to help the clearly aggravated girl's mood during a trip to a certain villain, Dr. Light, in the T-car. "I bet Dr. Light's son is not very BRIGHT…!" He had giggled. "Too bad; his dad's a doctor, so he is probably pretty enLIGHTened," he laughed even harder. "Though, I bet father and son got along on SUNdays; eh? Am I right? Probably got a lot of SUNdaes on SUNday, perhaps even chocolate LITE! He might have even..."

Her frown had changed to a glare and she had forcefully morphed him into a small rabbit, rolled down the window, and tossed him out of the T-car in one fluid action. He had barely enough time to morph into a fruit fly mid-flight to bar any significant damage, but it had still scared the crap out of him. In Raven's defense, she had done it because she wasn't sure he would ever stop those ridiculously bad puns and she wasn't about to hear him continue. Ever since, even Beast Boy had learned some of the girl's stricter personal boundaries. Morning was off limits...unless he wanted to do some actual mourning.

The green boy shivered as a slight gust of air billowed from an open window across the room. It was rather ironic, considering Cyborg was so big on security, yet he never remembered to close all the windows before he went to bed. _Perhaps when I tell Cyborg about the hallways, I should mention the windows…_ He shrugged. He didn't care either way, and would likely forget to mention either issue in a few hours. But, it was the thought that counted, right?

Beast Boy's mind wandered back to the girl resting on the couch. _What should I do?_ Raven had a very strict rule against people sloppy enough to stay up late enough to fall asleep in the living room. She considered it a sign of weakness and a severe security risk. If the tower's alert system went off, everyone would be assumed to be in their own bedrooms. Any anomaly in the system might compromise the safety of the entire group, or even worse, spend precious team resources splitting up into search parties looking for the absent Titan. Sleeping in the lounge was a bad idea all around. This time, though, the situation was different. Raven had broken her own rule.

He frowned when he noticed that her neck was hunched up against the stiff and pointy armrest of the couch. The metal frame beneath the arm rest's sparse padding dug into her pale, yet reddening, cheek. He wanted to wake Raven up so that she may return to her own bed for the remainder of the night, but he hesitated. Her soft eyes seemed so peaceful and caring. She seemed…happy. He had never seen such a content and trouble-free expression on her face. Honestly, he had only seen her asleep maybe three times, tops, and a sleeping, peaceful Raven was such a refreshing change from an evil, demon-possessed Raven.

Even worse, there was a strong chance waking her up would wreck her tranquility. She wouldn't find this incident funny. She would probably be embarrassed at being hypocritical. She would not handle being told by Beast Boy himself to 'go to bed.' Couple that with sleep deprivation...and it would most certainly result in excessive anger. Beast Boy's animal instincts told him to leave it alone. _She's always really cranky when she wakes up…now would only be ten times worse! No way man…No way…_

Beast Boy carefully sat down on the couch. He quietly placed his glass of juice on the coffee table and began to eat. A bite of tofu, followed by a gulp of orange juice. The taste was sour, yet soft against his tongue. It didn't take him long to finish. When he was done, he stood up with glass in hand. He walked across the room and through the gap back into the kitchen. He gently placed the dishes inside the sink, washed his hands, and then wiped them on his uniform. He tiptoed back into the living room and stopped. He eyed the doorway.

_Is it bedtime for real?_ It was probably a half an hour or so since he last woke up. If he went back to bed now, he would sleep through the better part of the day, possibly until 2 pm. He would lose precious gaming time. If he stayed up, he would have so many more hours to play and explore. _My day would start before 5 am…?_ The idea seemed almost foreign. He would have so much more time than normal…time he could put to great use. The idea twirled around in his mind. It was probably nearing four thirty now. He didn't normally wake up until eleven thirty. The quick math dictated seven hours of extra alone-time. _I'm not even tired anymore…I'd only toss and turn even if I tried to sleep…What harm could staying up cause? I've basically already slept a few hours anyway..._

He walked back to the couch. If he was quiet, he wouldn't wake up Raven. He could probably get several hours of gaming done right now, even. All he would have to do is turn the TV down to a relatively low volume and she would never know. He walked to the giant wall TV, and underneath it, he pulled opened a dark gray cabinet. Inside it was their Game Station. He snapped the power trigger on. He pulled out a controller, switched the TV mode to "Component 1," and began to play.

* * *

It was nearing 9 PM when Gizmo came to Jinx's room. He knocked on her door and stole her attention. She called him in and he hesitantly pushed the door open. The boy blushed a little, seeing the girl applying makeup in a nightshirt. He coughed, before turning his eyes to the wallpaper. "Crud, I came up with a crap plan."

"And?"

"It's crap, but it'll work..."

* * *

_Please leave me a review. Thanks! Oh, and happy new year!_


	9. Book I: Chapter VIII

Book I: Chapter VIII

* * *

Jinx looked at the boy with skepticism. "Really? What do you got?" She asked.

Gizmo frowned as his eyes traced the girl's small frame. "I was lookin' through that surveillance information we collected on Titan's Tower a while back. One of the crap-mechanics of that tower is their cruddy elevator. The thing's never been renovated and it's likely they're still using old tech. What a piece of crud. I mean, they have all the money in the world, but those snots can't even…"

She sighed before interrupting him, "I don't care. Skip the narrative, what's your plan?"

Gizmo looked at her for a second, peering into her amethyst eyes. She seemed so excited, like a little kid on Christmas morning. He was anything but excited. However, the look in her eyes kept him from turning away from her bitchy behavior and dropping the matter altogether. He began again. "Those snot Titan's made the mistake…"

"Just give me the short version!" She interrupted a second time. "How do we get her?"

"Crud!" He exclaimed. "Fine, you want the short version? Here it is: We shut down the tower security system, break into the tower, double-check that the elevator is still shit, rig it, then watch the elevator crash from afar."

"What a stupid plan. How does that get Raven?"

"Lemmie finish! Crud, you're so impatient. If you're really serious about doing this, at least let me finish!" She scoffed at him, but nodded in acknowledgment. He took this moment to expand on his idea and explain his methodology. "Look, our records show Raven goes to the roof to meditate daily. She's up there more than anyone else. But, that freaky vampire chick only goes up there during the night. It's a daily routine of hers. She's never missed a day in months, and it's always at the same damn time. She's so routined; we can get in hours before her schedule, rig the elevator to go to shit before she normally gets there, and then watch the cloud of smoke from a safe distance."

Jinx let a bored expression fill her face. "…right, and how do you intend to do this? Elevators don't just fall, you know. I'm sure the Titans have some super-special protection against this."

Gizmo's face twisted into a sly grin. "That part's cake. You know, everyone would like to think elevators are 'super-safe', but they ain't. The Titans only have normal safety precautions on their system; nothing any hotel or large corporation doesn't have. The kind of elevator built to protect against accidents, but would fail against intentional abuse...in other words, it's crap. If the cables are still attached, well, any modern elevator will be fine. Even electronic malfunction won't drop one of those fuckers. But, if you sever the cables from the cart, so the cart is no longer attached to anything...well...they're fucked. This would never happen in a daily circumstance, so modern elevators have no real protection against it. Even one cable snapping won't plummet a cart. All of the cables would have to break all at once, and that just doesn't happen."

His grin grew wider before continuing his rant, "The Titan's piece of junk elevator will free-fall to the ground after I'm through with it. The only safety mechanisms the Titan's elevator has is a pulley system at the top and bottom of the cart which connect the stabilizing cables to the elevator, the hooks at the sides of the cart that spring out as a failsafe, and a cushioning mechanism at the bottom of the shaft that softens impact. The cables are easy to break, and the cushioning mechanism would only help if it fell from like, floor 3. It's shit. The only safety that actually matters is a series of automatic spring-loaded metal hooks. They pop out from the sides of the cart due to centripetal force caused from falling at high speeds, even without electronic assistance. They are designed to hit ridges that rest on the walls of the elevator shaft, which slow the elevator cart down if it falls too fast. But, if we tape these hooks to the sides so that they cannot deploy, the elevator's got nothing. An explosion would sever the elevator cables and destroy the pulley system, detaching the elevator from any support. Gravity then makes it fall downward. Simple physics. It's high enough and it falls fast enough that it'll kill anyone in there, even a half-dead tin can encased in metal like Cyborg doesn't stand a chance."

"Jeez, can you just give a summary of what we have to do once we get in the tower?"

Gizmo grunted, "We tape down the automatic spring-loaded hooks so that they cannot activate. Then, we use a pressure-activated sensing system that will only detonate when touched. Place it at the very top of the shaft, and ensure when the cart hits the top floor to access the roof, it will come in contact with the sensing system and trigger it. Next, link the sensor to some explosives, so that when the cart reaches the roof floor—the floor that that bitch Raven is most likely to go to—the explosion will go off. A large enough explosion at the top of the cart should provide enough force to separate the elevator from the pulley system before the cart can open, causing the piece of junk to free-fall to the ground floor. There will be no way to stop it. It will wreck the tower. Most of all, free-falling 18 floors will toast anyone, I guarantee it. Anyway, this is the best I got on such short notice, and it can work. Satisfied?"

The girl groaned at him. "Gee, that doesn't sound so bad. Well…Except the fact that she phases through walls! She'll just pop out, and it won't do anything. Useless!"

"You can't possibly think I didn't notice that, right? You need to do your math better. There's 18 floors, right? Think of it this way: Gravity is a bitch. If you'll go down, you'll go down fucking fast. That Raven-freak will have about four seconds tops, from the time of the explosion till the cart hits rock bottom. I'm not lying; it's actually less than four seconds, but I overestimate to cover my bases. Now, also realize there's no way Raven will be able to predict the explosion beforehand...It'll just happen. It'll take her completely by surprise, and if it's early enough in the morning, she might be groggy or sluggish due to sleep deprivation, hell if I know. In other words, you can add in a second or two of momentary shock before she even begins to come up with a counter-plan. The freefalling cart won't wait for her. The explosion might even give the elevator cart an extra push due to the impact of the blast, giving her even less time, fuck if I know. It's too complex to calculate...Err," he stopped, lost in thought. The boy appeared to be thinking about the actual calculations involved.

Gizmo blinked and then nervously cleared his throat before he started again. "uh…anyway, when you're freefalling, you won't have any way to orient yourself to your position in time or space. She might even rise up off the elevator, and momentary stall in the air due to the sudden change in momentum. So, consider she needs at least 2 or 3 seconds to figure out what the fuck is going on, come up with a plan, and then execute it. Now, as far as I know, that freak needs a clear ending point to teleport, otherwise, she risks danger. She could accidentally teleport into something solid and kill herself. If she's falling that fast from an elevator shaft, she'll have to choose very specific floors to land on. There's no way she'll be able to locate a specific floor and reach it safely in FOUR seconds. Or, in other words, the bitch has four seconds to collect her thoughts, reorient herself, calculate a clear ending point, and get out of the elevator. Dude…Four seconds is hardly enough time to say _'oh shit'_."

"Are you sure that's how her powers work?"

"No. But it's the best plan I've got against those snotmunchers. Take it or leave it."

Jinx sighed. In all honesty, Jinx thought it sounded pretty good on paper. If nothing else, Gizmo presented his case in enough words that maybe he'll shut up if she accepted it. She shrugged, "Fuck it, it's as good as any plan. Even if it fails, it'll scare the shit outta those fools. It'll wreck their precious tower too. I'm in. But, I'm not so convinced Raven will be caught."

Gizmo shrugged, "It won't only work for Raven...Anyone who gets in that elevator and triggers the detonator will die."

Jinx momentarily paused, thinking through the implications. "Then…What's the estimated survival rate of each Titan?"

"If they go in together, it's too hard to calculate. There's no telling what those snots can come up with in a pinch. Too many variables; I won't fucking do it." Gizmo took a brief moment to think through several scenarios in his head, before he continued. "Assuming they go in it alone, Cyborg's scrap. What a bucket of crud. He's got nothing that can get him out. He can't fly. He's crud. Starfire would probably survive…she fucking flies and she's strong. I wouldn't doubt she just busts through the top. Robin may be able to find a way out. It would depend on if he's wearing his cruddy belt or not; I can't imagine anyone wearing that shit 24/7. But, he's probably dead, he'll have nothing to throw his birdarang at. Still, he would need to pop open the emergency door at the top in around two seconds, and then have it hook onto something in the last two seconds…he's probably doomed. We already discussed Raven. All that leaves is that green freak Beast Boy. He's too stupid to come up with anything worthwhile quick enough. He'll probably run around in circles to his death, if he can even circle once in such short time."

Gizmo frowned as he spoke his remaining prediction aloud. "None of them will survive impact. Their only chance of survival is to get the hell out, and I doubt any of those sludgeheads think quick enough to do it. Well, minus that alien girl. Again, she flies. Everyone else…we've got pretty good odds that they're done-for."

Jinx nodded. "Very well, I accept. Let's do this. Go get Mammoth, will you?"

Gizmo turned to leave her room, but he twisted his head and eyed the girl one last time. Her eyes seemed to shimmer, as if she had a ray of hope that good things were soon to follow. Gizmo suspected his own hell was a more likely future than their happiness, but he couldn't tell her that. "Crud…Jinx…are you sure you wanna go through with this? You can back out…"

"What? Are you nuts? You're sounding like a little girl. Grow some hair and man it up. It's time we start acting like real villains."

"But Jinx, this is serious. Once she's dead…she's gone forever. We've never killed anyone before. If we go through with this…there's no turnin' back…"

"Christ, you're like a broken record. I heard you the first ten times. Yes, dead is dead. I'll worry about the psychology behind murder later. Right now, there's ten thousand things more important. Now shut up and do your job." She hated sounding so crude, but their future as a team was at stake. If they took out Raven, then her team couldn't get locked in what seemed like a nearly perfect prison-system. Gizmo or Mammoth would be fucked if they got trapped—and hell, even she might not make it out another time. This was something they probably had to do. No. She **knew** it was something they had to do, in order to ensure their perpetual freedom.

Gizmo frowned. "Just think about it for a second. Do we really need to kill that freak? There's got to be a better way to stop them from imprisoning us…"

"I gave it all the thought I need. I've never been so sure of anything in my life! I want to see that girl die. " Jinx felt shocked to find the words slip out of her mouth numbly, like a foul liquid. It was difficult to form the words with her lips. She paused for a moment to recollect her composure and bite her bottom lip. Then, she continued to speak, yet this time with a lower tone in her voice, eyeing the floor. "Gizmo…This is our chance to make it big…Think about what it would mean to finally defeat the Titans. We'd be in. We'd actually be _IN_! Everyone will want us. We'll be rich; famous. We'll be the best." She wrapped her left arm around her back, and let her fingers lock around the inside of her right elbow. "This…is the turning point…After this, there is nothing but good fortune in our future. I can hardly wait. That girl's sacrifice is our glory; we'll never look back at this moment." Jinx forced a smile on her face to reassure her teammate.

"Think about it…it's not too late…" Gizmo repeated. "I won't blame you for turning back. Neither of us will. We don't care about being famous. We just want to relax and get free stuff…"

Jinx turned away from the boy, now glancing at the ceiling. "Do you know how long I've felt like a failure of a criminal? I was born with bad luck, and it follows me everywhere. This bad luck wouldn't let me do what I want, and I could never be any kind of success. You morons chose to be villains because you were lazy. I…I didn't get that choice. I just want a lucky break for once. I want to be successful at something, and villainy is the only shot I've got. I honestly think defeating the Titans will give us this chance to be the best. Just do this for me…and…I promise you won't regret it. Deal?"

"I know how you feel, Jinx, but there are better ways…"

"Gizmo, we both knew it was going to end this way when we signed up. We both knew the Titans had to go, but none of us wanted to admit it. And you know what? I like this plan. You did good. The elevator method isn't us killing her, it's her failing to save herself. There's a huge difference! It's not our fault if she dies. Just think of it this way: If a little thing like an elevator actually gets her, well, she had no right being alive in the first place. Remember, the strong survive, and the weak were too pathetic to live. Think of it as her trial to show how much she wants to live. HIVE Rule #101: No regrets. It's not my fault she was too weak to live."

Gizmo looked to the ground as he heaved a deep sigh. "Crud, you scare me sometimes. But whatever, you're not going to let me talk you out of it. I swore I'd follow ya' to the end, so let's get this over with."

Mammoth peaked his head out from the doorway of Jinx's room.

Gizmo turned to him, and asked, "Mammoth, are you ready?"

He nodded. "I am."

"Jinx?"

She nodded. "Roger."

"I guess it's better them than us, right?" Gizmo chuckled nervously to himself.

"Exactly. If we don't take Raven out now, we might find ourselves locked away in some psycho hole-in-the-ground jail for eternity. We can't possibly let that happen. It's not my fault we retaliated…this is all her fault. She probably laughed the whole time I was locked up, enjoying my suffering." Jinx paused, "Well, the tables have turned. Now, it's my turn to laugh at you. Goodbye, Raven…"

And then, Jinx was once again the commander of her team. Her henchmen followed. They listened. They did not complain. Neither of them continued to laugh at her recent failures and bad decisions. They no longer cared she had looked so pathetic not so long ago, pillow cases on her feet and bruises across her ego. Now, she was pretty, and her nail polish was perfect. Even after all of her faults in the past, the two boys who stood on either side of her and showed their fullest loyalty. She would never let them down. _This is for my team, and for our future_, she told herself. _This has __to be done. There are no other options…_

Yes, it had to be done, even if she was sweating hard; even if she wasn't smiling anymore. Perhaps fear was irrational. Maybe she really was a good leader, even if she always seemed to fail.

* * *

An abrupt yet brief creak echoed throughout the metallic walls of Titans Tower. The hushed morning breeze spilled into the room, causing the relentless curtains to flail and claw away from the opened window. The walls groaned as the heavy winds slammed against the tower's foundation, adding to the unease that clung to the air. The low hum of the florescent lights buzzed from above, shining bright for all who cared to see. The sun had not yet risen, allowing the moon's light to trickle through the thrashing curtains.

Raven's eyes slowly pealed open. With the back of her right hand, she wiped a streak of drool from the corner of her lips. With hesitance, she sat up on the couch and looked blankly at her wet hand.

She tried to tilt her neck to the left, yet the sudden sore pain that rippled down her spine made her wince. Her poor posture while sleeping must have made her neck sore. Raven carefully crooked her neck as far as it would go without causing pain to look down at the book resting on the floor. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she observed the upturned spine. The pages beneath were probably bent.

The girl's face scrunched up in mild confusion. "I fell asleep?" Her soft voice filled the air.

She stretched her arms behind her back and raised them above her head. She yawned, before swinging her legs off the couch and onto the hard floor. The chilled carpet tingled beneath her bare toes as she stood up and stretched her pale legs.

Raven's eyebrow rose when she noticed the TV frozen, with the words 'PAUSE' written across the center of the screen. A silver controller lied on the couch opposite her own. She had a strange feeling the game had been in use only moments before. A slight blush grew across her face.

"Someone played video games while I slept?" She asked aloud, a twinge of irritation filling her voice. "Boys are so…inconsiderate." The person in question had not only refused to awake her, but he—it was far to unlikely for Starfire to be the culprit, given that she didn't know how to turn any of the game systems on without assistance—was only feet away from her slumbering body. He had been in the room, next to her. The thought in itself was embarrassing.

Had she been snoring? Was her mouth open wide? Was she talking in her sleep? Was she…drooling? Well, drooling when the culprit had been in the room? She couldn't know. She couldn't control how she had appeared, nor could the girl be sure she had been appropriately behaved.

The back of her hand still felt damp. It was impossible to know her exact mannerisms as she slept, and thus, could not control her own image. She could have farted, or sucked her thumb. Her hair could have been folded into an awkward position. She could have had a bad dream, and her emotions could have escaped her control. Perhaps her powers had caused something to shatter…and there was hardly anything more embarrassing than sleep-breaking. Even worse, Raven could have harmed or accidentally frighten the culprit. It was part of the reason why she never wanted people in her room. It wasn't safe. She was so…vulnerable…so, out of control, when she slept.

_People should never watch me sleep._

Raven frowned, but pushed the thoughts out of her mind. There were more important matters to attend, and at the forefront of them was her current sleeping status. Raven considered going back to bed, as anyone tired enough to accidentally fall unconscious must surely require the rest…

Yet, the girl knew she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she tried. She was still tired, but her mind was now wandering and in further disarray than last night. She would need to head to her room and mediate on this new circumstance. She had never meant to sleep in the first place. The events of the last few days had kept her in a state of perpetual misery. She didn't have the time to sleep. She had so much to worry about—and that was even before this unexcused nap had cut into her duties. There was not enough time in the day, and not enough in the night, either.

It bugged her, though, that the sun had not yet began to rise. _I only slept for a couple hours. Why did I wake up?_

The feeling was peculiar. The question seemed so pertinent, and all else seemed meaningless. _Why am I awake? _Raven felt extremely…uncomfortable. It felt abnormal that her eyes were alert and awake. Her heart was beating faster than it should. She seemed to be sweating. Her fists clenched and her breathing was rapid. Her teeth were grinding and her muscles felt tensed. She seemed so filled with adrenaline. She was so… tense…

She froze in mid-step when the sound filled her ears. It was an explosion, akin to the sound of a large car slamming into a brick wall. Her heart stalled, and then pounded heavily against her chest. She heard a higher-pitched sound, similar to a low-vibration guitar string snapping, and then cracking like a whip against a hard surface. A loud screech, and then nothing. Silence. Deafening silence.

It was eerie how quiet it felt.

Before she could inhale, a shattering clash of metal pierced her eardrums. It was deafening, louder still than being next to an emergency siren of an ambulance. The whole tower shook. The grinding clatter of metal against metal seemed impossible to comprehend. The sounds were incomprehensible, but they hurt. They throbbed, and they were relentless. She raised her hands to cradle her eardrums.

The noise was gone before the tips of her fingers reached her ears and her eyes could clench shut to block out the painful, agonizing sound.

She was running.

She had phased through the door; passed into the hallway as the hum of steam filled her ears. In the faint distance, she could make out the hushed cries of a fire, possibly coming from somewhere below the tower. The thick smell of burning rubber was nauseating. She was now covering her mouth, trying to breathe.

She ran faster. She couldn't see down the darkened hallway, but the smell of lingering smoke made it clear she was headed in the right direction. Where the smoke seemed thickest, she turned and saw it.

* * *

I appreciate all the reviews! Let me know what you think of the story thus far. Thanks!


	10. Book I: Chapter IX

Book I: Chapter IX

* * *

Raven's eyes widened. The beat of her heart increased, until the speed and intensity of the pounding against her eardrums overpowered the hushed cries of the distant fire.

The smoke, mixed with the hanging soot in the air, felt thick against her throat. The burning ash stung her eyes, as she stared into the empty, smog-ridden elevator shaft. She struggled to take a breath and withheld the urge to gag as the fumes filled her mouth. She took a step forward, treading closer to inspect the scene that splayed before her.

The girl's eyes traced the singed edges of the elevator door. The metal tips of the left and right flaps of the entryway billowed out like a smashed barrel, as if something solid had slammed against the metal entrance from the other side only moments before. The gap between the ruined entrance was several times wider than her head, yet just barely wide enough to allow her sight into the usually unseen.

Raven licked her dried lips and tried to control her shaking fingers as she explored the dark vortex of red and orange that flickered from beyond the door's gap.

The incredulous, tall elevator shaft was alight due to the glowing sparks that had ignited down the sides of the metal shaft from the impact of the cart. The space glimmered with a foggy ember orange, reflecting bits of bright light against the spare copper wires that ran down the left and right sides of the smoggy hole. Residue had built from years of non-cleaning, and minutes of smoldering ash. The migrating smoke blurred out sections of the abnormally empty elevator shaft.

In only a moment's time, Raven became a voyeur of a seldom-seen perspective. She could see beyond the doors of an elevator shaft, beyond the elevator that typically stood in the now empty space's stead. She could see the metallic walls, the bolts within each nut, and the cobwebs that lined the edges. In just minutes, she might have learned from her perspective, witnessing the mechanical side of the tower's elevator system. She could have learned how it slides up and down, and the mechanics required for the feat. Yet, her mind too numb to wander, and her breathing was too shallow to concentrate. It was not the smoke that had caused her dry mouth and difficult swallowing, but the fear that gripped her mind.

Raven could feel her teammates behind her, ushering her away from the smoke. The muffled noises—whispered voices, running water, crawling fire, and falling ash—echoing from behind.

She remembered Starfire's panicked face and Robin's hushed voice. She remembered Cyborg and his fiery anger; the metallic man's regret, worry, and anguish. She remembered her friends holding her back; she remembered breaking free.

She remembered her dive downward. She flew against the blaze, and struggled with the growing strain that pressed against her lungs. She came to the wreckage of ground zero, grabbing the burning metal with her bare hands. She tore through and dug past clouds of hanging dust, into the very cart itself, until her lungs tightened, her grip loosened, and the smoke won.

Yet, of all that she could recall before she blacked out, she could not remember her childish teammate or the toothy grin that surly rest on his friendly green face.

* * *

"But Cyborg…I don't understand…" Robin's voice seemed curt, yet unnerved. His arms were crossed and his hair was missing its trademark gel, causing his bangs to spill into his vision. The explosion had occurred before he had a chance to fully awaken and prepare himself. Now, barely an hour after the wreckage, the team continued to be on high alert. "You said you had safety precautions for this. I don't see how this could have happened. This only happens in the movies..."

Cyborg shook his head at the boy wonder. The metallic man had the eyes of someone who had been startled out of a deep sleep. He found it difficult to hide his exhaustion and his worry. "No man, not this time. Heavy things fall. It's just how things go." Cyborg frowned. "I told ya' before, elevators have safety precautions for normal, every day crap. One cable snaps? The others will still be fine. Electronics wig out? Automatic safeties pop out. Normal stuff? No problem," The man paused, "This…this was no accident. I'm tellin' ya man, I had protections built to stop _normal_ accidents. All bets are off when someone messes with my tech, or the environment changes."

Robin's eyes narrowed as he inspected his teammate's face. "What are you insinuating, Cyborg? Was this was an enemy attack?"

"All I'm sayin' is it's not unreasonable to believe someone messed with my tech. Cut all the cables at the top…and I suppose anything's possible, ya' know? No normal malfunction could have caused this." Cyborg let his eyes explore the wrecked elevator cart. It had taken the crew almost half an hour to ensure the fire had been put out and no additional fires had spread. For the most part, the entire team had deemed it a stroke of luck that the whole tower remained standing after impact.

Robin's gaze followed Cyborg's. "So, you think this was a direct attack?" The leader repeated.

Cyborg nodded. "I admit, I don't know how they bypassed my breaking system, or the shock absorber, or the safties…fuck man, hell if know. Did they spoof the software? No, no… man, none of these are software-based safety mechanisms. They're all manual mechanics that occur automatically. They don't glitch. They had to have been spoofed…Did they tape the safeties down? Or what…" Cyborg's frown deepened, "Who knows enough about elevators to pull this off?"

The room grew eerily silent as Cyborg began considering the possibilities aloud. "I know we weren't hacked from a distance. There's no doubt in my mind. Someone broke in, wrecked the elevator, and then got out." As the words fell from Cyborg's mouth, he could imagine Robin's masked eyes change. The change was subtle, but the look of skepticism had turned into anger, and then fury. The expression unnerved Cyborg, and caused the man to bite his lip to reduce his growing tension. "Er, right…Robin, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Let it be, man. I'll just figure out what went wrong and make sure this can never happen again. Just…it'll take me some time, aight? I need to check a few things out, you know, to assess the damage… come up with a better story...that kind of thing. I'm just speculating for now…"

"Happen again?" Starfire's voice interrupted Cyborg. "What do you mean, 'happen again'? Elevators do not just fall! Our friend Beast Boy could be gravely hurt, and we must do something! It does not help to prevent the future, if we already lost our friend in the past!"

The words of his female teammate caused Robin's mind to pause for a second, before detailed calculations and potential scenarios disappeared. He blinked, and his hardened, angered eyes changed into a softened expession. The leader cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. Worry and concern had left his face. All that remained was the strong visage of what his team needed most—their leader. Robin lowered his voice to his most commanding tone as he began to speak. "You're right, Star. This is no time to get caught up in the details. We need to act fast. Every second we stand here, we jeopardize Beast Boy's life."

The leader paused, before continuing. "First order of business, we must determine Beast Boy's location. We don't even know for sure Beast Boy entered the elevator at any point today. The security cameras were bugged, so we cannot look through the footage. Starfire, I want you to stay with Raven. Once Raven wakes up, tell her to quickly travel to Beast Boy's common hangouts. Raven can phase through walls, and explore Titan's tower faster than any of us. This is paramount, but of least importance; if Beast Boy is anywhere other than…" Robin glanced over at the wreckage, but couldn't bring himself to say the words. "…Then…he must be fine. If he can be found, then he is safe. The search can wait for her to awaken. When she does, tell her to check his room, the living room, wherever. I don't care where, just have her look. Leave no place unturned. Search for any sign of our friend."

Starfire nodded.

Robin looked to their robotic teammate. "Cyborg, I need you to figure out the cause of this disturbance, and I want to know the exact damage our tower suffered. It's possible the impact of the elevator could have harmed structural beams elsewhere in the tower. I need you to assure that the tower won't collapse while we're in it. Report back as soon as you can with a cost estimate for repair, and the overall assessment of this attack. I also want to know if whoever did this might have sabotaged any of our other equipment, or…" Robin took a deep breath, "…if they might still be in the tower. This is of utmost importance. Every moment you waste could jeopardize another life."

Cyborg nodded.

The boy—leader—frowned. "And finally, Starfire, after Raven wakes up, I need you to return here and help me look through the debris for any sign of life. You're the strongest of the team, and most capable of lifting the heavier pieces. As for me, I will survey the damage firsthand and wait for you to return. If Beast Boy is down here, I'll find him and get him immediate medical attention. " Robin sighed. "Once you return…I'll start inspecting the tower grounds, surveying signs of breaking and entering. If someone has entered this tower, we need to know how, why, where, when…we need to know everything we possibly can, and fast."

With his chin held high, Robin looked to the ceiling, letting his voice fill the threatened air, "And everyone…I mean it: do not worry. Beast Boy is still alive. He should be…no, he must be stronger than that. He is a Titan. He must still be safe." The four remaining team members nodded in unison.

"Titan's…GO!"

* * *

She still felt shaky, having swallowed a bit too few oxygen, and a bit too much smoke. Starfire had given Raven her assignment; Starfire had returned to the crash site almost as quickly as Raven's eyes had pealed open.

Raven curtly thought of her assignment and briskly nodded. She closed her eyes and focused all of her cluttered and panicked thoughts onto a single subject. The faint outlines of Beast Boy's cheeky smile filled her mind. She let the sound of his voice narrate her depiction of him, and give vibrant life to the image in her head. "Hey Raven," the childish voice called out. "What do you call a pig giving you a Christmas tree...?" the image of the missing green boy giggled. "…A pork-you-pine!"

Her inner-mind groaned. Even in her thoughts, the stupid jokes were terrible. However, it felt good to groan; part of her wished she might still groan in the future.

With her mind's eye focused, she slowly found her center and let her concentration build. In a matter of seconds, she felt calm and collected. The palms of her hands grew steadily warmer. She pushed all of her energy into the tips of her fingers, and began to mold the shape of the growing black aura around her body. She changed into the form of a faint bird and quickly transcended the ceilings above. Only for a split second, did the shape of her transformation mimic that of an overgrown raven, before the obsidian hues dissipated throughout the stagnate air. After the energy disappeared, she stood silent, and alone, on the highest floor's hallway.

The smoke of the accident was less thick than before, but it still made her cough. It was stuffy and she wondered if there was enough circulation of air to transgress safely. However, her precautions quickly left her mind when she once again thought about their missing teammate.

She needed to find the stupid boy as quickly as possible and assure that he had not been hurt. The facts seemed painful. If he had heard the loud crash, he would have joined the other Titans. Even Beast Boy was not that sound of a sleeper. In other words, if he was still safe, he would have made his presence known, even if he had to patch them in through the Titan Communicator. Because his Titan Communicator was off—or perhaps broken—and the green boy was missing, things looked bad. Raven knew the only reason why he was missing was due to something urgent.

She would need to quickly scout out the area and make sure Beast Boy wasn't dumb enough to make a joke out of a serious event. She wouldn't put it past him to scream out, "Dudes, just kidding! I so got you!" if she opened his bedroom door. Perhaps the only reason why a slight smile came to her face was the fact that if he did such a shitty thing, she would make him suffer so badly he would need to eat out of a tube. Or…maybe she'd seal his mouth shut and force him to be her mute servant for a year. Raven shrugged. The specifics didn't matter to her too much...Any form of revenge would work.

Raven crossed her arms as she walked down the bleak hallway. She unconsciously hugged her arms tighter as she neared his room. She knew believing in such false hope was pointless, but a small alcove in the back of her mind still begged that Beast Boy was a damn heavy sleeper.

When Cyborg designed Titan's Tower, he built four very large rectangular constructs one on top another. Then, to design the horizontal band at the very top that fully completed the "T" shape, he turned three rectangular segments on their side. The completed picture represented their headquarters, training facilities, city watch post, and most of all, their place to live. Each segment spanned roughly the size of a five-story building. In total, the four vertical constructs of five stories each resulted in a tower nineteen floors high, not including ground zero.

While initially, the sheer size of the tower seemed unnecessary to Raven, she had come to know the little nooks and crannies—secrets—that made privacy a possibility between five teenagers. More importantly, entire floors seemed to have their own purpose. Two floors were devoted entirely to Titan Supplies, and one of the floors to safeguarding weapons that villains used against them in previous battles. A good several levels of tower were sectioned off, which housed the security sophistication of the entire tower. They also ran the power supply and the main computer.

After all floors were accounted for and the inhabitable levels were narrowed down, the accessible levels for normal use turned into three: the ground floor, the nineteenth floor, and the roof. The ground floor supported their extensive training services and their garage. The highest accessible floor—the nineteenth floor—of the tower was their main home and residence. It had their lounge, suited with red couches, big screen TV, mainframe computer, kitchen, and wall-to-ceiling windows that featured a beautiful view of the city. It also held every bedroom, including the one room that Terra had once frequented, several years ago.

Lastly, there was the roof, to which the Titans often went to get away from everyone else. It was a zone well-renown for peace and tranquility. Late at night, the stars were beautiful, and the soft hum of the ocean smashing against the rocks felt like a meditation garden in surround sound.

Well…Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a bit, and nobody cared about the roof but herself. In truth, Raven knew almost nobody appreciated the roof's true value, being probably the only one who went up there more frequently than a weekly basis. However, she knew the perks of the roof had to be self-evident; they were a mandatory aspect of her sanity, her peace, and her stability.

When it came to Raven's search for Beast Boy, she assumed the ground floor was covered by Starfire and Robin. This meant she was down to the nineteenth floor and the roof to find her aggravating friend. She would start at his bedroom, and work her way to the lounge, and then ultimately the roof. She had awoken in the lounge moments before the accident had occurred, so it was unlikely he would be found there. Also, as far as she knew, he only went to the roof when all of the Titans were doing a group roof activity. In other words, during summer volleyball, or never at all. If she was to find him, her best—and probably only—bet would be his own bedroom.

As Raven walked from the empty lounge down the long hallway, her own room came first on the right side, then the stairwell up to the roof next to the elevator came next, a second hallway that ran perpendicular to the rest of the tower on the left appeared, and then Beast Boy's room, on the left, soon after. At the farthest end of the tower, in the distance, Raven could see Cyborg and Robin's room perpendicular to each other. Starfire was the only member of the Titans to have a room down the other hallway, which Raven envied far too often. She hated having the room closet to the lounge, and least protected from noisy Titan activity.

Her feet came to a stop as she looked at the large metal door leading to Beast Boy's room. Should she knock? Although common courtesy suggested she should, she knew she didn't have a lot of time to mess around. If he were not in the room, her knocking would be pointless. She also wanted to finish this search as soon as possible, so she could help her friends dig through the rubble at ground zero. It was a terrible thought, but she was practical. Raven knew she would be able to lift ruin faster than any other Titan because of her powers.

Actually, it made her a bit upset. She disliked Robin's plan, which had become something of a growing theme, especially with his recent handling of the Mayor's mandates and Jinx…yet, she continued to follow their leader's plans partially due to obligation, and partially due to that small smidgen of trust—trust that he knew what he was doing—which still remained.

In truth, she thought looking for Beast Boy in safety was pointless, but she had not the strength or the willpower to argue. In her mind, she figured if he was safe, they didn't need to look for him. He would turn up eventually—and he would be safe. Due to the fact that time was of the essence, she would be much better off searching where he could be hurt. If he was still asleep, well, that's fine, right? He'd merely wake up, come looking for them, and everything would be great. Looking for a safe Beast Boy was wasteful.

Her arms hugged tighter, staring at her teammate's door. She took a deep breath. Perhaps her own sense of panic and over-sensitive reaction was a sign of how rare it was for the Titans to fall into near-death situations. Sure, they were superheroes and they risked their lives daily, but being practical, they were better than their competition by a severe degree. Even Slade who had once been their most difficult adversary had become a pushover. On their last skirmish, Slade had shown up with a league of maybe two dozen robots and himself. When the Titans easily exterminated the robots, Slade fled. He had not shown his face for several years now, leading to a lot of suspicion, but it had also made one thing painfully obvious. The more the Titans thought about it, the more they began to realize the 'Genius Slade' had finally run out of resources and ideas. His plans were terrible, and they had never succeeded. He had an infinite failure record, and now he was washed up. He was hiding not because he was in wait, but because he had lost. He was finished.

The thought of someone outsmarting the Titans worried her. The thought of Beast Boy being severely injured frightened her more. The thought of that annoying boy being dead—well, it was too much to bear.

Raven walked up to the door's security panel and typed a series of numbers into it. She had always hated the Titan automated sliding doors. They were bulky and unnecessary technology. At least a simple doorknob and lock would keep out a sneaky green rat who had a tendency to "accidentally" search the computer hard drive for her own room's security code. Maybe she was hypocritical; after all, she knew his security code by heart. Then again, it's not like she had ever used it. She had no desire to get into his room. Her knowing his code is definitely more of a security precaution kind of thing. It was to assure that in a situation of life-and-limb—or, a situation like this—she could quickly and easily get in contact with him. Her mind guiltily threw away the fact that she could easily use her Azarathian power to transverse the door at any moment, which meant there wasn't really a logical reason to know his password...but, that didn't matter.

Raven shrugged.

The door slid open and she cautiously peered her head inside. It wasn't so much that she was trying to keep herself hidden, but the room was so messy she found no legitimate way to actually enter his room. The floor seemed to be artificially several feet too high, crammed pack with junk that she didn't know he had. She bit her bottom lip as she stepped over an apparently unopened bag of potato chips. She put her weight on a red sweater she had never seen him wear, to step closer and get a good look at his bed. The bedding was cast asunder, as if Beast Boy had literally jumped out of bed and thrown the blankets everywhere. With a quick look at the top bunk, she assured herself he was not in his room.

Just for good measure, she called out in a loud, raspy voice, "Beast Boy, are you in here? This isn't funny. I'm not playing around, and I'm angry now. Are you in there somewhere? Are you okay? ...Did you survive…?" She called out again, but met only empty silence; she felt her dehydrated throat begin to burn.

She hesitantly turned her back, and finally left his room.

* * *

Cyborg ran as fast as he could up what seemed like an endless flight of stairs. He had forgotten how exhausting it was to travel so many flights. In retrospect, he wished he had waited until Raven woke up, before she swooped up to the top floor using her power. He should have asked her to take him along for the ride.

However, his own business wasn't on the top floor, and he didn't have the time to wait for her to awaken. He needed to reach the eighth floor as soon as possible, where the more personal aspects of the tower were stored. Part of the point of having so many floors that seemed to have almost no activity meant a foreign opponent would have difficulties locating the more delicate machinery—the more critical information—in a timely manner.

In this particular case, he saw his job as threefold. First, he had to figure out how and why the elevator crashed. To do this, he needed to access the mainframe computer's direct interface. He could probably connect via his own robotic arm from a distance, or even the lounge's panel, but he was killing two birds with one stone by accessing the master computer located on the eighth floor, which also housed the structural integrity of the tower. His second, and perhaps most important job, was to determine the kind of damage the tower had withstood. In order to determine the tower's condition, this particular floor was a great place to begin physically analyzing the support beams. If they had been cracked during the incident, this floor would show it. The eighth floor was low enough to notice any signs of emergency wear, but high enough to show if the cracks had spread to the higher levels of the tower. This was critical, as it would hopefully allow him to see the integrity of the tower without being required to visit every single floor...he just didn't have enough time to do so. His third task, and probably the most difficult, would be to calculate the kinds of costs it would take to repair the given damage, both in effort (or his precious hours of free time) and in monetary value.

Cyborg had not had the time to inspect the damage on ground zero, but he assumed the elevator cart was totaled. Judging from the limited scope of the bottom floor he had seen, the bottom floor was tousled as well. He was not looking forward to the next few weeks and the amount of work it would take to fix these issues.

His biggest problem would be dealing with how the intruders had bypassed his security features. This 'accident' was no accident. It was intentional as far as he was concerned. Someone had hacked into his systems and fucked with them. If they had enough power to cause the elevator to malfunction, who's to say they didn't mess with other areas of his tower too? For all he knew, even the structural diagrams that modeled the damage of the Tower could be inaccurate. Hell, they were smart enough to simultaneously stop all the video cameras and hidden recording devices he had installed. Cyborg would need to inspect the key elements of the tower in person, before he could give Robin a full estimate of the situation. Although in most cases the digital world was his friend—this time, digital data couldn't be trusted. It could very well be spoofed to be his enemy, and that was dangerous.

By the time he sprinted as fast as his metallic body would let him to the eighth floor, he was slightly out of breath. A little bit of sweat dripped down his brow, but he wasn't winded. He could probably run up the full tower and then back down before losing his breath. Although he wasn't winded, he had to admit, running up several flights of stairs was by no means a fun adventure, especially when his mind seemed to race even faster, worried about the status of his best, and possibly closest, friend.

He came up to the sliding door, punched in the security code, and met a giant red: "Access Denied" screen. He tried again, only to see "Access Denied" printed once more. Cyborg growled in frustration as he slammed his metallic fist against the steel wall.

_Ah man, did they change my password? This week is going to suck,_ he muttered to himself.

Making a fist with his right arm, he used his left hand to unlatch his lower-arm computer. The movement of the monitor revealed a miniature keyboard underneath. He stroked a few keys, pulled a connector cable from the side of his arm-monitor, and stuck it into a slot near the sliding security door. With a few more keystrokes and a little bit of brute-force hacking into his own system, his right eyebrow rose in confusion. "What the hell man? It says here the code should be the same. Nobody messed with it…"

With the cable still connected to the door, he repunched in the same numbers for a third time: "3-51-904-804-204-61-3" into the security panel of the sliding door. To his surprise, the monitor lit up with a green "Access Approved" message.

He groaned. "Come on man, now's not the time to do stupid shit like that. Beast Boy needs you." When he pulled the cable out and slid the monitor back into his arm, he noticed his left hand was shaking. He looked over to his other hand, which was also shaking. Cyborg brought his hands to his face and wiped his forehead. "Relax Cyborg, he's fine. Even Raven can't kill that little grass stain when she wants to…he's tough. He's gotta be fine. He just has'ta be…"

He shrugged off the fact that he had typed his own master password incorrectly twice and entered the poorly lit foundation of the building. The door quickly slid shut behind him.

Cyborg glanced at the structural beams, the wires, and the cascading garters. He eyed the door labeled "High Voltage" toward the back of the room. He rubbed his robotic hands together. "Aight Cy, time to get to work; time to do what you do best and fix this hellhole. They're all counting on you...and you've got the skills to pull it off."

And with the crack of his knuckles, he began.

* * *

Really, thanks for the reviews, everyone! They mean a lot. As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews keep me motivated and more excited to continue. Thanks again!


	11. Book I: Chapter X

Book I: Chapter X

* * *

They watched the tower from afar, like eager children awaiting fireworks. Eyes fixated, little fingers curled around metal railings; Mammoth began his second set of seventy push-ups to burn his excess unease. Jinx and Gizmo waited on baited breath, never letting their eyes wander too far from their target. They couldn't afford to miss it.

Titan's Tower poked out from the city horizon, itself the tallest building in any direction. Crisp yellow lights emanated from its windows, clashing against the darkest sky of the morning's dawn. The top of the tower looked abnormally dark: surreal, and yet serene. The water was calm around the Titan's island, rocking little and lightly, barely sloshing against the rocky shore. The HIVE FIVE trio waited on the roof above the second largest building in Jump City, far away from nosey eyes and security cameras. Front row seats.

The time spilled: slow, awkward. Not a sound. Not a sign of movement. Her shoulders began to slouch.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Jinx's voice hollered out in mock exasperation. She waved her arms with emphasis. "All this waiting, and nothing! Nada! I thought you said Raven was routined."

Gizmo's mouth twisted into a frown. "Hey! I told you it was a crap plan. It only had a small chance of happening tonight. Don't get mad at me!" He groaned. "Either way, who cares if it happens now or later? That tower's toast no matter what. Our explosives won't disappear. Fuck if I know when those snots will get a sudden urge for fresh air. But when they do, they'll get blasted."

"I suppose you're right. But…" Her eyes softened, "It's no fun if we miss it, you know? I wanted to watch their precious tower ignite in flames." She paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. "You know what we're missing? Popcorn."

"And hotdogs," Mammoth added with a grunt.

"Why does it always have to be meat?" Jinx groaned. "Why can't it be ice cream? Or cakes? Or brownies?"

Mammoth shook his head in between his forty-seventh push-up. "You can't eat ice cream during a movie."

Her eyebrow rose. "Why not?"

"Duh!" Shouted Gizmo. "It would melt all over the place! It would be too dark to see where the cruddy thing melted. Too much of a mess. Definitely gotta go with hotdogs."

"Too messy?" She questioned them, "That's why you eat it out of a bowl!"

Mammoth grunted again. "No cone? Not worth it."

"Whatever," Jinx sighed and rolled her eyes at her muscular companion. "You wouldn't know good taste if it hit y…"

The sound was faint, but distinct. Like a gunshot, the powdery noise echoed across alley-walls before reaching eager ears. The girl's eyes widened and she pivoted her head to glimpse a view. Titan's Tower remained as still as the mellow water surrounding it for the briefest second, before a cloud of jet black smoke jutted from its rooftop. Like a tea kettle, the smoke shot out in a narrow stream, before growing wider, and dissipating into the air. A sharp red light began to glow from within the windows of the Tower's ground floor.

Jinx stood silent, her fists clenched and shaking. "Oh my god, Gizmo, you're a genius!" She exclaimed. "I can't believe that actually worked! It's so pretty!" She was at a sudden loss for words, as the red grew brighter, and the smoke grew darker. The girl ogled the lightshow for a few minutes. The boys looked with silent reverence. A conflicting sentiment of satisfaction and apprehension filled them all.

The rising sun peaked out from beyond blackened clouds, bringing color to the city's skyline. The fading sunrise caught Jinx's eyes, and she quickly gained her composure. "Time for phase two," She commanded. "Guys, we cannot lose this opportunity! I…didn't think this plan would work," The girl glanced back at the burning tower. "I was wrong. However, we're not finished yet! We can win so much ground if we take control of the situation!"

"What did you have in mind, Jinx?" Asked Gizmo.

"Well, we need to keep them guessing, as well as improve our own information. We gotta see if Raven exploded. And, if possible, we should make them fear our name, too! You know, rub our superiority into their faces."

Mammoth stood up straight, with focus more on the tower than his companions. His deep voice cut in, "How will we do that?"

"We gotta play it safe," Responded Jinx. "It is paramount that we time our next move just right. Not too soon, or too late. Too soon, and they think we choreographed the attack. But too late, and we lose a valuable opportunity to psychologically ruin their confidence! We need to execute our next plan before the Titans can recover from that bitch's death."

Gizmo groaned, "And? We do that _how_…?"

"Well…I…haven't got that far," She shrugged. "I'll let you know when I have a plan."

Jinx watched her two henchmen for a moment, before glancing away. "You both did a great job. You know that, right? I still need some time to think. So...I'll give you guys the day off. Have a boy's night out, or whatever it is you two do when I'm gone. Just, stay out of trouble, and return here by 5 pm for further instruction. Deal?"

The boys nodded.

* * *

Jinx couldn't keep her eyes off the smoldering tower. The smoke symbolized perhaps their first major success against the Titans. A plan of theirs actually worked out, and even better, none of them were being chased for it. Perhaps she felt so much satisfaction because, for the first time in her entire life, she could imagine the impenetrable tower crumbling into dust. She could see Robin bowing before her feet, begging for mercy. She could actually imagine a future where she was a success, and not a continual failure.

"Gizmo really did it..." Her voice seemed abnormally withdrawn, "And I couldn't even think up something myself. Some leader I am..."

Her eyes strayed to the remainder of the city, perfectly casual, perfectly unaware of the impending news. How might they react, knowing that a precious Titan had been killed? Would fear grip them all, or would they bite back and chastise their heroes for being too weak?

"Well, my role isn't finished yet; I can still prove myself by coming up with a plan that will ruin the Titans further. And..." She muttered with reluctance, "I suppose I should reward Gizmo. Treat him to something nice. We all deserve a bit of a celebration. I'd be one shitty leader if I didn't give praise where it's due. Besides...I'm way too hard on him..."

She paused, tracing the metal railing with her fingers. "It's not his fault I make so many mistakes."

* * *

They sat innocently on a mall bench, about three department stores away from a large escalator. The behemoth escalator technology had been built to take passengers from the first floor of the mall, up to the third floor in a minute's time. It was the staple of Jump City's mall, wherein a significant number of passengers always seemed to make use of its faster pace than the elevator equivalent half the store away.

"A bit of a safety hazard, eh?" Gizmo asked Mammoth. "You'd think the cruddy owners of this shitty place would worry about the safety of their customers."

Mammoth shrugged, "You can back out if you want. Maybe there's some things you just can't figure out how to do."

Gizmo chuckled, and pressed a couple buttons on the mini-computer resting on his lap. "Just watch this," He muttered.

About twenty civilians stood on the moving escalator, waiting to reach the third floor. A few in grouped clusters, chatting with each other; a few isolated and alone, with a step or two of breathing room. They all waited with poise, faithfully welcoming their nearing destination. Seconds later, the escalator came to a complete stop. Curious faces looked to one another; some raised questions. Those nearest the front of the frozen technology began to climb the remaining steps on their own to reach the third floor. Like a caterpillar's legs, those in behind began to follow closely after. But, after only three had the luxury of leaving the escalator, Gizmo tapped another key on his laptop.

The escalator began to slowly move in the reverse direction, and then faster, until it was as fast as it was going in the original direction. The people began to panic, and those in front began to run up the moving elevator to reach the third floor. Others lost their balance, and fell. Gizmo looked away, no longer interested in the results of his chaos. "Crud people are stupid." He frowned. "Hive mentality—and not even the good kind."

The two HIVE members got up from the bench and walked out of the mall.

Gizmo continued, "All because some cruddy idiots tried to beat the speed of the reversed escalator. Everyone's too busy trying to save precious time. Some push each other, while others follow the person in front of them blindly. None of them bother with the smart choice! Face the opposite direction and wait to get off! What a load of crud. I mean, come on! It's no different than a regular escalator moving in the opposite direction! And yet, all it takes is one cruddy mess up. One person tripping or falling clogs the bottom of the escalator. Then, it keeps dumping more and more people onto that bottom floor. People have nowhere to go, but on top of the snots who fell. This causes trampling and injury."

Mammoth grunted, "You don't sound like you're having fun. You're lucky Jinx ain't here. She'd call you soft."

Gizmo shrugged, "I'm not soft. Pain is part of the job. Just...I don't see why we have to be violent when unprovoked, you know? If we're provoked, sure, we gotta defend ourselves. But otherwise, we don't get anything from harmin' others. This ain't a cruddy video game, ya' know? There's no gold coins for squishin' people's heads, or zapping them with fireballs. I'm in it for the gold, the freedom, and the thrill, not the higher criminal charges."

"She'd still call you soft." Mammoth teased, "Anyway, you were right. You win. Escalators are easy to hack."

"Too easy," The boy shrugged. "I hate it when things are too easy."

"Fine." Mammoth grinned, "Bet'cha can't get us five free pizzas. But you can't sneak in and steal 'em, nor can you use delivery. You gotta outsmart 'em."

"You're on."

Video games, pizza, and a few harmless pranks. It was a normal day of relaxation and not a Jinx to bother them.

* * *

It was nearing 5 pm when the two of them returned to the roof and found her waiting. Titan's Tower looked blacker than normal, singed and stained with defeat.

Gizmo was the first to speak. "Come up with anything?"

"Of course," She crossed her arms.

"…And?"

Jinx cleared her throat. "The purpose of our attack is threefold. First, we want to shock them. Make them realize their plan to keep me locked up failed. Absolutely crush any sense of accomplishment those stupid Titans might have had. I want them to learn firsthand: they failed, and I want them to see their failure by witnessing my smiling face. Second, we need to ensure that Raven got killed in this attack. If we see Raven…we'll know we failed. If we don't see Raven—well, my grin will be that much better. Third, we need to hide the fact that we were responsible for the attack. Only outright fools would approach the Titans so soon after directly attacking them. With how many possible culprits there are, the smart move would be to hide; coming out now would only draw attention. If we act the right part, we'll be so painfully out of place, they'll assume we are clueless of this attack." Jinx groaned, "Hell, they might think we were set up…a second time. Remember the bank scenario? We can use this. Robin is conditioned to think we're just being..._our pathetic selves_." Jinx spat those last words.

"Jeez, and you get mad at _me _for being longwinded! Just skip to the plan part!" Whined Gizmo.

"Okay, okay. Fine. As soon as we're done here, I want you and Mammoth to go back to that very fucking bank we were at several days ago. This time, go nuts. Break the doors, steal all the gold you can. Just wreck havoc. I don't really care what you do, so long as you draw massive attention. As soon as the Titans show up, you two take 'em on. I'll make my flashy entrance later. Under no circumstances should either of you do anything risky. Highest priority is safety; don't get caught. We can't afford a potential 'take-2' of my own experiences. That jail will fuck you." Her eyes narrowed. "Do you understand? You don't get caught. You don't go to jail. You don't fail. If the plan goes to shit, we all bolt. Deal?"

The boys nodded.

"Now with that out of the way…" Jinx grinned. "That was spectacular, Gizmo! I've never seen anything so pretty. Hell, the tower is still smoking, even now! I can't believe it! Something we did really worked!"

"I wonder if it really _worked_ though," Muttered Gizmo with a bit of resentment.

"You mean Raven? Well…" She hesitantly paused. "I don't really care anymore. Just seeing their tower burn was enough for me. If we can keep up this caliber of attacks on them, we might really start moving up. Deal a blow to the Titans every few weeks—keep 'em guessing, and abused, and defeated. We could become renowned!"

Gizmo sighed. "...Really, I don't think we should be celebrating quite yet. If Raven didn't die, and they really have those prisons you were talking about...we're crud."

"Gizmo, quit being a pussy!" She exclaimed. "They have no way of knowing it was us, and even if they did, Raven's gone. We just watched it. You said it yourself, she's the only one who would get in that elevator."

"Yeah, but...if she did escape, we're so screwed."

Jinx frowned. "Come on, Gizmo. Give yourself a little bit of credit. You did something amazing! You're always like that, too. You have no concept of how valuable you are to the team."

"Amazing?" The boy snorted. "You're joking, right? Just the other day, you were calling me an asshole."

Jinx shrugged, "Well, you can be a bit of both, can't you? But…" She began to stammer, and a slight blush came across her face, "Maybe I'm…a bit…too hard on you sometimes. Maybe I owe it to my team to reword good behavior."

"...I'm not a dog," He muttered.

"Well, no, but you can still take credit where credit is due. So, yeah, that's what I'll do. What do you want as a reward? Name it, and I'll make it happen."

The small boy shrugged. "I don't want any crud. I can steal anything I want. And what I can't steal, I can build."

She groaned, "Come on, there's got to be something! I just want to keep you motivated and interested in doing good work."

"I could care less."

She shrugged, "You sure? I won't offer again."

The boy paused for a moment, chewing on his thumb. "Well, actually...speaking of dogs...that'd be pretty sick."

Jinx's eyebrow rose, "What do you mean?"

"Well...I've been wanting a dog for a while now. Never really had the chance to own one." Gizmo stated.

Her eyes narrowed, "But we don't need one of those dirty animals. It wouldn't benefit the team."

"I didn't know I could only ask for something that _benefited the team_. I've just always wanted a dog. They seem pretty cool."

"Why?" A frown grew on her face, "He'll only get in the way. At least a cat would be self-sufficient...and silent..."

Gizmo frowned, "Screw cats, they creep me out."

"Besides..." The girl chewed on the inside of her left cheek, "A dog won't help us commit crimes. He'll shit everywhere. We'll have to feed him…"

"I don't care. I don't want him to fight and dogs are easy to take care of. You think I couldn't train a dog? It's cake."

"Dammit Gizmo," Jinx shook her head, "We can't seriously keep a dog in a secret hideout! Let me say that again. Our _secret_ hideout! He'll bark! Our cashier will be like: _'...the fuck? A dog?'_ It'll blow our cover! We can't take him on walks while we're in hiding! There's just no way…"

The boy shrugged, "Well, you did say I could have anything."

"Yeah...but..."

Gizmo turned his back on her. "As I said. I don't need you to do anything for me. I'm not on this team for such a shallow reason. Forget I mentioned it."

"...But..."

"It's whatever, I really don't care anymore." Gizmo looked to Mammoth, "I'm going to get pizza; you in Mammoth?"

"...Fine! Fine!" She stomped her foot. "We'll get a dumb dog. What kind do you want?"

Gizmo's eyes narrowed. "...Get something you won't hate."

Her frown deepened at the word 'Get'. "You're joking, right? Seriously, what type of dog do you want?"

"It's up to you," Gizmo muttered before he left the roof.

"...But...But..." She stammered, "I don't want a dog!"

Jinx sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll find something. Something that doesn't smell."

_Jeez...why do I put up with this kind of thing..._

* * *

_"Sir, it seems there's speculation that the prisoner may have escaped..."_

_His eyes narrowed, "Yes, yes. I'm quite aware..."_

_"Really? How so, Sir?"_

_"Information travels fast. It's nothing to worry about."_

_"But Sir, she's a dangerous criminal..."_

_"That is true; she is. But, good news always follows bad news. Something good has come of this."_

_"Sir?"_

_"As I said, it's nothing to concern yourself. I'll handle it. As always, good work. Carry on."_

_"Yes, sir. I just hope she doesn't cause any more harm..."_

* * *

Author's Note: I apologize for the delay! I'll try to update more frequently. Thanks for reading!


	12. Book I: Chapter XI

Book I: Chapter XI

* * *

Beads of sweat clung to her bronzed skin. A loose strand of glossy maroon hair stuck to her brow. Starfire grabbed a chunk of broken plaster and tossed it over her shoulder.

Much of the material remained hot to the touch, far too warm for a human's hand. The room itself, gray, singed and lined with soot, gave off the impression of a boiler room, where the occasional piece of metal still blazed with the slightest hue of crimson orange. The intensity of the room brought uncomfortable heat, like a thick sweater clinging to the skin on a hot summer's day. Ground floor was most unpleasant.

Although nearing noon, she had not yet stopped for breakfast. The impending fear of loss and the relentless pursuit of gain seemed so much more important than the unmistakable grumbling in her stomach. Her fingers gripped a piece of cable. She raised the splayed material to her eyes in order to inspect the damage. Broken beyond repair, but Cyborg would likely find it future use.

Upon the elevator cart's impact, it had originally seemed as if an entire floor of their tower, ground zero, would require complete renovations. Now, it was as if all prior calculations had been miscalculated and each assumption baseless. It is true that hushed cries of fire once bellowed down Titan corridors, staining tiles, rugs, wires, wood, and metal in a sickening chalky black. Yet, hours later, after the fires were vanquished and further inspection had been made, both Starfire and Robin had decided that the only real damage seemed to be the elevator cart itself. The cart had broken into two distinct pieces on impact with the earth. The cage had flattened and split apart, now resembling a cracked accordion.

The remainder of the floor, though in disarray, might only require minimal repairs and a nice scrubbing to reach its original state of shine. The impact of the cart had jarred the floor and splayed the tiling. Plaster and glass still littered the ground, but the ground seemed only minimally dented. Although a spring-cleaning nightmare, there was reprieve knowing it was not irreversible, permanent damage.

The sun reached its midway point, before beginning its slow descend.

"Still no sign of friend Beast Boy," the redheaded girl whined. "Surely he will turn up soon." No sign of the boy was both a relief and a torment. The conflict seemed caked with irony. Finding Beast Boy would allow them to provide him medical attention as soon as possible, yet not finding him meant he was still out there…and not in the deathly rubble.

A wisp of black bubbled out from the top of the ceiling and slid down to the floor. "Friend Raven!" Squealed Starfire. "You're back! How did it go? Where is our Beast Boy?"

Raven shook her head. "I'm sorry, Star."

"Are you positive? Was there not some place you forgot to look?"

"No," Her raspy voice seemed unusually cold. Raven's eyes wandered to the picked-apart wreckage, exploring bits of shrapnel that seemed to litter the room like scraps of newspaper. "I don't suppose asking me was dramatic irony…and you actually found him?"

Starfire shook her head. "We have not…"

* * *

Starfire, Robin, and Raven stood in a triangle, curling their fingers around the bottoms of the largest piece of the elevator shaft. The three of them lifted the shaft off the ground and carefully moved it several feet away from its original resting place, before promptly shifting the wrecked metal onto its side. From beneath, not a Beast Boy to be found.

The sound of a loud, steady clank faintly echoed through the tower floor. It grew louder, until a door burst open and Cyborg came dashing out of the staircase. He was out of breath, having ran up and down dozens of flights of stairs over the period of several hours.

His voice peaked out between heavy breaths. "Okay," he wheezed. "I've done…quick analysis…of the tower…I think I can answer…your questions, Robin…But first," Cyborg glanced at his fellow Titans and bit his bottom lip when he counted only three of them. "Beast Boy?"

"Haven't," Replied a dreary Raven.

"Damn. Was kinda hoping..." He looked at their somber faces and coughed. "Uh, anyway. Something else came up. As I said, this was no accident. Whatever happened, it was clearly intentional. They must'a gotten detailed schematics of the elevator, or something. They attacked every single emergency precaution. The cables at the top of the cart and the cables at the bottom were simultaneously cut, allowing the cart to freefall. Now, ordinarily that wouldn't do much. Along two sides of the elevator shaft are…essentially...ridges in the walls. When the cart falls fast enough, the force of the fall will build up, until the force propels claws within the elevator cart to catch on these groves. Although it'll be a bumpy ride, they'll naturally slow the cart down. You see, that didn't happen. Whoever set this up must have taped the flaps shut or something, stopping the safety mechanism from happening.

"But seriously man…" Cyborg looked squarely at their leader, "They beat my tech and my software dedicated to ensuring this kind of shit can't happen. They destroyed every safety mechanism. There's not much else to do, you know? I built the elevator so a genuine accident—like one cable snapping—wouldn't cause disaster. But no, this must have been a direct attack on the Titans. Short of stopping the perpetrator from entering our tower in the first place, there's no safety precaution to stop this sorta thing."

Robin's eyes narrowed as he carefully licked his lips. "As far as we can tell, Beast Boy wasn't in the wreckage. He's nowhere to be found. However, for the sake of information…let's assume he was inside the elevator when it happened. What are the odds he would survive impact?"

"I don't know Robin. From the looks of the wreckage…well, you can see for yourself. The cart took a hell o'va beating. However, there's hope. It's a tight fit between the walls of the cart and the walls of the shaft itself. As this heavy object is freefalling, air pressure would build up and slow it down dramatically. On the very bottom floor, I had what you could call a giant spring of sorts—or cushioning device—installed. Its basic function is to act as a shock absorber to make the fall more livable." Cyborg scratched the back of his neck as he looked at the piece of smashed metal resting between his friends, "I guess science didn't really pan out, huh?" He gave off a weak chuckle. "I mean, from the look of the cart, I'd say he had no chance of...I mean...The fuckin' thing was totaled, man…"

Robin looked away, "He wasn't found in the cart, Cyborg. He wasn't found in the rubble, either, and we can't find him anywhere else. What are the odds he escaped as it was falling?"

"I don't know man, I can't say I've ever been in the situation. Theoretically, there's no way in hell someone can escape it. I didn't calculate out exact numbers, but the quick napkin math scares the shit out of me. Being generous, I'd give it 5 seconds on impact, neglecting wind resistance. Wind resistance could have given him a few extra seconds." The metallic man looked to the ground. "But, ignoring the huge time constraint… It would be no different than being in an airplane as it's taking off. You would feel that initial pull until you reach terminal velocity, at which point you would almost feel normal. As a bird or something, it would have some affect on his ability to fly, but he could probably take off with some varying success—I can't imagine it being impossible. Actually, I'm sure Beast Boy is used to taking off mid-flight from moving vehicles…" Cyborg casually looked at Raven, who had decided to flip her hood up. "If the safety hatch at the top of the cart popped open from the air pressure, he just needs to get out. After he's out, he would be able to reach safety. So, he merely had to realize he's falling, turn into a bird and then fly upward. Not too impossible…"

Robin's eyes lit up and he began to nod. "Then that's what happened. I refuse to believe a Titan could be killed so easily. He might be a bit childish, but he's clever and instinctual. At the moment the elevator started falling, he would have gone into survival mode and gotten out of there."

Raven sighed. "That's all fine and good, but it doesn't explain why he isn't with us now. If he was nearly killed, he should have reported by now. The only reason he's missing is because he's unable."

"Unable? Actually…That's it!" Robin ran his fingers through his un-gelled hair. "Raven, you might be onto something. We assume he was in the crash…but what if he wasn't? What if the elevator attack was a decoy? What if Beast Boy was taken hostage by our intruder? This was a distraction and they've succeeded in keeping us lost for a few hours."

"Hold up Rob," Cyborg raised his hand into the air, "We can't go writing out a hostage narrative. Beast Boy would have gone kicking and screaming and I'm sure one of us would have heard it. We have to keep looking…There's still a chance our friend is hurt badly, somewhere, and we just haven't found him."

Starfire's eyes glowed with worry, "But where else is he? We have looked everywhere and our friend is nowhere to be seen. It is like he vanished and I do not believe our friend has that power. He is as lost as we are and he needs our help. If he was captured, waiting too long, in this way, could also cost him his life."

"Starfire's right. No matter what we do, we have a time limit. We need a new plan of attack and soon." Robin brought his hands to his face and began to stroke his chin. "We will split up into two groups. Cyborg and I—being less useful at moving debris—will instead focus on what we know of the intruders and see if we have any leads. We will decide who might have done it and send a recon mission as soon as possible. We will find him, if he is a hostage.

"Starfire and Raven will stay here and clean up this mess entirely. Tear everything apart before you throw it away. Look through the rubble piece by piece a second time over." He gulped, but continued regardless. "Look for cloth, bones, blood, or teeth. For all we know, he might be wrapped around a chunk of metal, or worse…Titan's G…"

A loud gust of wind slammed against the staircase door, forcing it open. From within, a shaded figure stepped through. The figure looked to his right, and then to his left, before spotting the four Titans. The figure ran to them with a toothy grin on his face. "Guys! There you are…geez. I've looked everywhere. It's so smokey. What happened?"

"Friend Beast Boy!" Shouted Starfire. She rushed over to him and tackled him with a bear hug. "You were unharmed! We thought you were hurt." She began to squeeze him tight.

"Easy Star, I'm fine. Really," Beast Boy choked, feeling his breath being taken from him. After a few moments, Starfire backed away. "But I have a killer headache. No more screaming, 'kay?"

The five stared at each other in momentary silence, until Robin broke the silence.

"Why didn't you report sooner? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

"I'm sorry Robin. I didn't mean to fall asleep or anything!"

Raven coughed. "…Fall asleep?" She asked. There was unmistakable irritation lingering in her voice.

"What do you mean you fell asleep? Explain," commanded Robin.

Beast Boy looked uncomfortable. The frown on his face gave off an aura of guilt, as if he had done something wrong. "Well, you see, I uh…" He paused, scratching the back of his neck with his right hand. He gave a nervous chuckle. "I woke up really, really early. Like, at five in the morning or something. It was way too early to get up, but I was hungry, you know? So, I got out of bed and made myself a sandwich. It was really good tofu! I started playing video games and got a little carried away. I was so close to beating Monkey Crashers Three when my eyes got really tired. I couldn't concentrate."

Robin interrupted. "Don't you sleep?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well...I had planned on going back to sleep right away…but…After I ate, I was wide awake. I couldn't go back to bed! So, I decided to play video games for a few hours. When the sun was close to coming up, I started to feel awful." He started pacing back and forth. "Whenever I'm ultra tired, I go to the roof and fly for a bit. No matter how tired I am, the adrenaline of falling through the air and changing into a falcon right before smashing into the ground totally amps me up. By the time I finish, I'm wide awake.

"So, there I was, in the elevator…" Beast Boy began again, with his hands sprawled out in front of him, his knees slightly bent.

"Why didn't you take the stairs, man? It's only one floor," Cyborg asked.

"Dude, do you know how many stairs there are? No way, I had a problem just getting to the elevator!" Beast Boy cleared his throat. "So…As I was saying! I was in the elevator. I was tired. I pressed the button and it started moving. As soon as the elevator got to the roof, I heard a loud click-like noise and then an explosion. The elevator fell and it scared me to death! Oh man, I didn't know what to do. It felt like I was being slammed into the ground and I knew I had to get out. I was way too tired and my mind was sluggish. I wasn't thinking too clearly, but I thought maybe if I became something really small I'd be safe. I transformed into a black fly and…"

Beast Boy weakly chuckled. "And…I…I'm not sure what happened after that." He chuckled again. "Like, I have no idea. It's all blank. I think I might have rammed my fly-head into a few walls, or something. I woke up in fly-form on the ledge of the roof." The green boy shrugged, slightly uncomfortable at the now shocked look of his teammates.

Raven took a step forward. "What do you mean, you just woke up? Did you get a concussion?"

"…Well, no, at least, I don't think so. I mean, my head hurts, but not like a normal concussion, and…" he tilted his head down to show his scalp to his friends. "Is it bleeding? You know…As a fly…you kinda…run into a lot of things. I just kinda assumed the pain was normal."

Raven continued. "And you just fell asleep?"

He weakly nodded. "I guess I was really tired."

Robin looked irate. He glared at the boy and raised his voice as he talked. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? We've spent the last few hours thinking you might have been killed! This is totally unacceptable, Beast Boy. The next time something like this happens—no matter what the circumstances—you must let us know you're okay. This was really serious and you could have been hurt. At the very least, tell us with your communicator you're okay."

"I'm sorry! I totally didn't tend for this to happen. I wasn't thinking enough to use my my communicator—I don't even know where it went. Possibly fell down with the elevator? Seriously, I didn't want any of this to happen. I didn't want to hurt the elevator. I wasn't an elephant this time around! The falling part was completely unexpected."

"What did I tell you about staying up late?" A sharp voice filled the air. Raven glared daggers at her friend. "This is exactly what I was talking about. It's unacceptable to put the team at risk. If you're tired, you need to sleep. No exceptions. No sleeping outside your room. No irresponsible behavior. No playing video games at night…" Raven's voice trailed off as she slid her head deeper into her hooded robe.

"Believe me, Raven. I won't ever do this again. How do you think I feel? I was almost killed!"

"I think he needs to know. Beast Boy, you weren't the cause of that accident," muttered Cyborg. "Something happened. I don't know how and I don't know why, but that explosion you heard was not because of your weight or because of anything you did. When you brought the elevator to the highest possible position—the roof—the cable mechanism must have triggered a switch. Explosives must have snapped the whole thing, causing the elevator to fall. This was no accident man, someone wanted to kill you."

Silence fell on the team and Cyborg took this moment to diverge the rest of his findings. "The fact that it was set to explode at the highest possible position means a few things. If you study our behavioral patterns, you'll know pretty much the only person who rides the elevator that high is Raven. Robin and I always use the stairs. While you and Starfire rarely go there at all. And even when you do, Beast Boy, you often fly out your own window. Raven uses the elevator as an excuse to read her book in silence for the few minutes she's trapped alone."

Cyborg waited to see if anyone would add their input, but his friends were all interested in what he was suggesting. He continued. "So, first off, we can suspect our attackers were either misinformed about who uses the elevator, or this was an attack on Raven. I doubt the latter, as anyone who knows Raven would know she could merely phase through the roof and float in the open chamber. This attack would be completely useless against such a power. The attack was probably directed at myself or Robin, the two Titans who lack flight and would be most affected by this attack. In other words, their information on our behavior and our abilities wasn't complete enough to plan this out fully …suggesting perhaps a less tactical villain might have been the culprit.

"Second," added Cyborg, "it was made to kill. They wouldn't have it triggered to wait for the cart to be occupied and reach its maximum height when it went off if they didn't want casualties. If they just wanted to scare us, they'd merely set a timer and run. Beast Boy, you mentioned a 'click' noise. A click noise is no timer. It's a trigger.

"Third, and perhaps most interesting, is their method of disarming my security measures. I still don't know how they got into my tower, but I know how they sabotaged my precious elevator. They used explosives of some kind to not attack the steel cables directly, but to instead hit the cable mechanism that holds all six of the cables together. The problem with trying to cut them is finding some way to cut all six cables at one time. Uneven cutting would cause the fall to be off-centered, and the cart would risk sliding horizontally, and perhaps getting clogging. This is a logistical issue. By knocking out the top cable box, all of them would be knocked loose at the same time, causing the cart to potentially fall straight downward. There were two sets of explosives that went off at the same time, where the second set knocked out the bottom cables. They somehow taped down…I'm not sure if tape is the right word. 'Attached,' some sort of plastic casing…perhaps…over the emergency safeties, which catch on the jagged ridges and eventually slow the elevator down. This was some pretty genius work, especially since they did it all without us noticing."

Cyborg stretched his arms behind his back. "In other words, I don't believe a group of villains that skilled would have made such a huge behavioral blunder. Studying our habits would know that Raven could escape such a situation with ease and she would ordinarily be the only threat." He frowned. "Especially not a group smart enough to hack through my security systems. Hell no, they should at least be intelligent enough to survey their victims and find a way to attack the most vulnerable. Trapping an unsuspecting Beast Boy who can transform into a housefly and remain unscathed is stupid.

"No, I suspect two different groups at work here. Someone commissioned the elevator attack and told them how to do it. A different group got it done. In other words, the elevator was likely a decoy of sorts. That remind you of anyone? Someone who goes to elaborate lengths to fuck with us, with no intention of harming us?"

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Slade. That's all the lead I need. I think I might know the other group responsible for pulling this off, but I'll need to think about it. Team, it's time to clean this mess up. Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven, I want you to clean up as best you can. Cyborg and I will do some investigating and figure out our counterattack. Whoever they are, they need to know the Titans will not stand for such behavior. This will not go unpunished. Oh…and Beast Boy…I want to talk with you later tonight. That is final.

"Titan's…Go!" Robin's voice filled the room. It echoed down the halls, until the noise came to an abrupt halt.

* * *

Robin's piercing eyes narrowed as he inspected his green teammate. "Beast Boy, this behavior is unacceptable. I feel as if you won't learn from this if I only give you a warning. I think you don't understand how serious this could have been. I…feel like I need to do more as a leader, so that you don't make such mistakes again. I don't want to be harsh on you, Beast Boy. But…I'm left with no choice. This was unacceptable. When we put your safety as the number one priority, we do so under the belief that you did everything in your means possible to follow protocol. When you are missing in action, we expect you are in a position of severe, life-or-death risk. Under these assumptions…We could have jeopardized our tower, our safety, and our future as Titans by prioritizing your health rather than other important matters. Think about it for a second, Beast Boy! Just think about what could have happened if our opposition remained in the building, while we wasted hours of our time sifting through bullshit to make sure you were okay. They could have done further damage to the tower, or they could have attacked us when we were most vulnerable. What if the tower was rigged to explode, while we were all busy sifting through debris? We would have all been killed. The team was so worried—some of us, emotionally defeated, because of you…and you are the direct cause. This…is…unacceptable. I cannot let you continue as you are, Beast Boy."

"But Robin…," Beast Boy interrupted.

Robin roughly cleared his throat. "Enough! You will let me finish. I will not tolerate such irresponsible and childish behavior. Maybe it is time you grew up a little. Do you understand me? Maybe a severe punishment will ensure you never do something so irresponsible again. Your punishment is as follows: First, you are on hiatus from all future missions until I deem otherwise. Second, for the entire duration of your punishment, you have dish and laundry duty. Third, you will clean the tower and perform general tower maintenance routines instead of participating on missions. And finally, you are expected to practice and train additional hours beyond your normal routine, in order to make up for any missed mission experience during your hiatus. There are no exceptions to these rules. Deviance from them will not be excused. You may leave us, if you do not wish to oblige. I cannot let you risk our team again. Do you understand me?"

Beast Boy stood under the doorway in silence. His eyes were wide, before they began to blink at a slow, yet steady rate. His mouth curled into a slight frown, which twisted further. The boy's fingers tightened into a ball, before he clenched them into a shaking fist. A reddish pink hue began to build beneath his green skin. After the passage of a few short seconds, a deeply held breath escaped his lips. He released his grip on the bitter air; his fingers fell limp. Beast Boy's mouth opened as he inhaled to speak. "Bu—," He began, but his voice fell quiet. He stalled in silence, as the spoken syllable felt rough against his sore throat.

Beast Boy nodded once, before leaving the room.

* * *

The siren sounded and four Titans mobilized. They stood in the lounge, as Cyborg read aloud the nature of the alarm. It appeared two of the six HIVE FIVE members were spotted near the city bank. Windows had been broken and several citizens had reported verbal threats issued by the teenaged villains. The report suggested that a large quantity of the bank's vault may be at risk of being looted. The Titans were urged to hurry down to the bank and provide protection for the citizens as the primary goal, with a secondary goal of ensuring no valuables were taken. The police had been issued as a means of temporarily slowing the HIVE FIVE down, until the Titans could take over.

Robin nodded and then shouted, "Titan's, Go!"

But before the Titans could begin their departure, Raven broken the silence. "Robin," She muttered and the three Titans turned to her direction.

The look on Robin's face was of confusion. "Uh…Yes, Raven? Is something the matter?" He asked, with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm not feeling well." She muttered, "I may be a bit unstable given these circumstances. Fight without me."

Robin nodded, "I suppose you're right… I agree with your judgment. If you're not feeling up to it, definitely get some rest. You blacked out earlier and you may still be a bit dizzy. Just take it easy for the next few days, okay?"

Starfire and Cyborg nodded in unison.

"Yeah, man," added Cyborg. "Those idiots ain't got nothin' on us. It's way more important you get your rest. We could take all six of them at once and still be fine."

Starfire's voice chimed in, "Most definitely! Your health is much valued to us and we appreciate your concern for it! Please, rest well! Know that we will surely be safe!"

"…Thanks," Raven responded, begrudgingly.

After a momentary pause, Robin looked back at the red alert screen and nodded once more. "If this is settled, we must hurry before the HIVE FIVE can get a chance to run away…Titan's, GO!"

* * *

When Beast Boy left his room and entered the lounge, he did not expect to see her on the couch reading a book. She sat there in silence, eyes focused on the bound pages resting in her hands. He had no intention of talking to anyone; he had hoped for at least a few hours of alone time given the circumstances. And yet, he couldn't help but glance at the lone girl. Why would she be at home reading and not protecting the city?

He turned his back on her and strutted into the kitchen. He clicked the faucet on and began to lather up a sponge. The dirty dishes appeared to be an assorted collection of many days' work. They were piled high into the air, sometimes eleven plates or bowls at a time. Ordinarily, it would be two more days before Starfire would take her turn to clean them.

Dishes wouldn't be so bad if they used their dish washer, but when feeding for five lazy teens three times a day—occasionally even more, given that Titans East, friends, business associates, and other acquaintances came to visit so frequently—there were typically too many dishes for it to fit in one load, let alone three or four. The Titans rarely bothered to clean their dishes or run a load every few days; they instead were in the habit of letting a week or more of dishes stack up at a time. Trying to deal with a dish washer just wasn't great for time management. It was almost always faster to just wash, scrub, lather, scrub again, and then rinse each dish one at a time.

Beast Boy hated dish duty, and rarely ever did it in a timely manner. When it was his turn, he was almost always days too late, and sometimes he did a rather poor job. Not because he couldn't take the time or effort to make them sparkle, but because he always had so many more important things to do. There was always a game he daydreamed about, and the constant do-nothing-but-scrub mentality made it incredibly hard for him to focus. His excitement normally got the best of him and he would cut a few corners to finish as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, this time, he wanted nothing more than to spite Robin and show that he could be mature if he wanted. Even if it meant doing the dishes, he would play this stupid game. It was asinine that Robin would treat him like such a little kid, especially without giving him a chance to explain himself.

He scrubbed his sixth dish. He sighed loudly as he glared at the extremely huge pile of shit to clean that still rest on the counter. It was this mundane activity that felt so boring to Beast Boy. He hated just standing there, letting the slightly too hot water singe his hands as he scrubbed rotting, meat-splattered messes off dirty surfaces. He wondered if he could finish within the hour and be free for weeks to come. Maybe he would only have to wash them four times in the next few months. Five, max?

"Want help?" Raven asked.

"No, I'm fine," Responded Beast Boy.

Beast Boy blinked. He set down the glass he had just lathered, turned away from the sink, left the hot water running, and let his soapy hands drip on the floor. His mouth agape. "H-huh? D-did you j-just…"

"Okay then," She muttered back, her eyes returned to her book.

"But Raven, Robin would be so angry if he found out…and, it wouldn't be a punishment if you helped me. I mean…part of my punishment is supposed to be doing all this stuff alone, I think? Right? Uh, well… I mean, it's stupid and he's so wrong! What if you guys got hurt and I'm not there to help? He's hurting the team even more! Like, I mean, I can practice and wash dishes, or whatever he wants me to do, on my own time, you know! It shouldn't get in the way of our team…I should be there with you guys…and…"

"Okay then," Repeated Raven.

"But…Why did you…?" Beast Boy asked. " I mean…You never…"

"Right. I never," Raven nodded, keeping her eyes focused on her reading.

"But…then…why…"

Raven shut her book. "Don't you have dishes to wash? I'm trying to read," She growled.

Beast Boy blinked again, before hesitating. He turned back to the dishes and continued to wash them. He scrubbed that dish for five minutes too long.

* * *

It was much too late when he finished. He dried his hands on the towel he had used to dry the dishes, and considered throwing it in the laundry. Rather…Getting it ready for when he did the laundry in a few minutes. Beast Boy sighed, before looking over at the motionless girl. Raven was still reading. She had not moved—not even to change positions—for the full duration of his misery.

Beast Boy looked back at the sink and saw the wet sponge sitting near the faucet. He chuckled to himself. "Hey Raven!" The boy hollered. "Catch!" He tossed the dirty sponge in her direction. The sponge turned black, before it dropped to the ground. Raven didn't look up from her book.

"Raven…" Beast Boy repeated. "Why didn't you go with them? Why are you reading when they're likely risking their lives and stuff…"

"Don't you have laundry to do?" Raven asked, as she turned a page.

Beast Boy winced, before he chuckled. "Heh-heh, yeah, kinda…." He jumped over the edge of the coach perpendicular to where Raven sat and casually slammed onto the cushion. He lay down, stretching his legs. "But I'm exhausted and my feet hurt. So…why aren't out fighting crime?"

"Sick," she responded.

Beast Boy looked at her skeptically. "You don't look sick…"

"Am," she stated.

"Really? But you never get sick...and you're acting like you always do."

"I'm reading, you know," Raven muttered.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be reading! What if they're in some mondo-huge fight right now? They could be hurt, Raven…You should'a went with them."

"Possibly."

He sighed, "What was the mission, anyway? What did I miss? Nobody told me anything…"

"Hive," Raven turned another page, "bank robbery."

"…But there's six of them, that might be difficult for Robin, Star…"

"Only two," She corrected.

"Come on, Raven! Stop reading for a second! Talk to me…please?"

She closed her book and looked at him. "And?" She asked.

"Aren't you even a little bit worried? Okay, I totally understand. They're fine and if they weren't, they would definitely let us know if they were in any danger…but…what if it really had been something serious? Why did you stay behind? You're the responsible one!"

"Because I'm guilty," she shrugged, before opening her book and beginning to read.

"Oh no you don't!" He demanded, "You can't just say that and go back to reading! What do you mean, guilty? Raven! C'mon!"

"Fine," she growled. "If you must know, Robin—and I—are mad at you for staying up too late, not sleeping enough, falling asleep at unacceptable places, and for endangering the team with irrational behavior. Does that remind you of anyone?"

"Who?" Asked Beast Boy.

She sighed, "Can I read yet?"

"Raven…"

"You played video games last night, did you not?"

"Well…"

"Well?"

"Well…Kinda…"

"…And?"

"I'm sorry? I won't ever do it again, especially if you're sleeping. I totally didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Good. Now let me read."

Beast Boy nodded, relieved that she didn't get angry. He turned to leave the room. However, he stopped mid-step, and spun around. "Hey! Wait a minute… Dammit Raven! Tell me…what are you guilty of? Why didn't you go with them? What is going on? Quit playing games!"

"Not so fun, is it?"

"Games can be fun…if it's the right game…"

"Throwing a sponge at me is the right game?"

"You were supposed to get up and dodge it…you've been on the couch for hours! If you're sick, you should lay down…"

"You were right. I'm not sick."

"Well, still, staying in one spot for so long isn't good. You should move around and…wait, dammit. Raven, stop! Just tell me…What do you mean, you're 'guilty'? Guilty of what?"

"I've slept like three hours in three days, I fell asleep in the lounge against my will, and I jeopardized the team's safety while you were gone. I probably risked my own life in the most irresponsible way."

Beast Boy shook his head. "No Raven…Don't worry about stuff like that! I doubt it was anything important. You always make good judgments and Robin isn't mad at you. So, you shouldn't be here right now…"

Her eyes narrowed. "But he SHOULD be mad at me. And you shouldn't be here, either. Now let me read."

"Well...I…" The clock on the far wall chimed, twelve at night. "I…should do the laundry before Robin returns…otherwise, I'll only make him even more furious…" He frowned and walked out the door and into the hallway. Before the door could close, he added, "…But thanks, Rae…I mean it."

* * *

**Author's Note:** If you have the time, please drop me a review. Thanks!


	13. Book I: Chapter XII

Book I - Chapter XII

* * *

Her fingers curled around the guardrail. As her grasp tightened, the skin beneath her knuckles turned porcelain white. Her pale skin clashed with the dark purple polish upon her nails. "And what brings YOU here?" Jinx spat.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, _my pet_?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't have time to catch up on old…_out dated_…things. I have a battle to attend."

"Yes, yes, so I've heard." The man flashed his pearly white teeth to the girl. "I have no business interrupting your current obligations, but I must have my way with you."

"Make it quick." She growled, "State your business with the HIVE."

"Ah yes!" He chuckled. "You see, this is exactly the kind of dedication that made you so great! You're so hostile, even to the friendliest of faces," His grin grew wider as he spoke, "You always put your work obligations first! Admirable, indeed. However, dear child, don't let your dedication blind you from your team's best interests."

She released her grip upon the railing and spun on her heels to face him. "You always did know how to flatter. Skip to it. What do you want?"

"Your attendance," He stated. "I saw it fit to deliver the invitation to you in person."

Her lips tightened. "We're not interested."

The man clucked his tongue, "Such a hasty refusal. Surely your team can benefit from such a valuable experience? We'd love to hear the Fearsome Three's accomplishments first hand. Won't you enjoy gloating and boasting of your current achievements?"

Jinx yawned. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch, young one. You see…your presence alone will be quite a profitable venture for me. Not to mention how valuable such an experience will be for my students! I simply cannot let you refuse."

She turned to face him, fixating her eyes on his ashen robe. "So, you're being paid off? No wonder you didn't bring a goon to meet with me." Jinx lowered her gaze to her polished nails. It was apparent they would need a new coat after the impending fight with the Titans, perhaps only minutes away. "What's in it for us? We're a bit too old to be under your influence; we already have access to your network of contacts."

"Ah! But on the contrary, my pet. I'm afraid you're possibly still too young for the role I'd love to give. It is one of leadership. Besides…I hear your subordinates are still a rowdy bunch. Just think…a little vacation and some team bonding won't do any harm, will it?"

She shook her head. "Too much harm. We're busy; this is delicate work. I'm sorry, but we don't have enough time to waste it on your school. Come back another year and we'll talk."

"This is precisely why it must be _now_. It is only as you are busy with valuable work, does your presence become precious and your words authoritative. I simply must have you speak as an _active_ leader in the field—I have no interest in the washed up." The elderly man sighed. He brought his fingertips to his graying hair and brushed his locks to one side. "Tell me…I've never led you astray, have I, dear? You have your team's career to thank because of _me_. Is attendance not the least you could do?"

"I don't know if you've been kept in the loop, but we're on a critical mission here. Taking a break could absolutely wreck whatever advantages we currently have. I will not repeat myself again: We _refuse_."

"You never were the fun one. I bet Gizmo would go, and you know he'd _love_ it."

Jinx scoffed. "And what does his immaturity have to do with me? I still forbid it."

"And Mammoth! I'm sure he'd love to see his old mates again. You are simply much too hard on your subordinates, aren't you?"

"It does them well," She defied. "They're no longer small time crooks because of me. It takes a harsh leader, to make a harsher impact on this world."

"Does a good boy not deserve a little treat, once in a while?" The elder glanced up at the darkening, evening sky. "How does that one go again? Ah yes… Too much hard work—dull boy."

"I fail to see how…" Jinx began with a curt, sardonic tone to her voice, before his sudden interruption.

The man took several brisk steps, poising himself inches from her face. "Exactly," He repeated. "You fail to see. Being a good leader isn't about neglect, is it? Or is it? Is it about neglect? I hope not! I'd hope a good leader wants what's best for her pupils! When she is too hard on them, she erodes their trust and their confidence. She ruins their motivation and willingness to follow!" The man turned away from her, crossing his arms behind his back. "I understand your hesitance during such a crucial time, so I will make my leave. However, I'll impart with you some wisdom. Heed my advice well." He licked his lips before continuing. "As a leader…try to assess how best to reward a job well done. Obedience is a rare, invaluable quality…you could have ten thousand men at your side and still lack _true_ disciples. Don't lose what cannot be bought back. An anger not quelled seethes until it bursts—the damage cannot be undone. _If you offer Gizmo a vacation, his anger at you might subside. He might forgive you for insulting his intelligence earlier._" The man sauntered toward the stairwell, about to leave.

Her mind flashed to Gizmo; she thought of the dog she couldn't possibly buy. They had yelled, and the anger in his voice emanated through her thoughts. He was likely infuriated with her. _He may never forgive._ "Wait…" She muttered under her breath, "When?"

The elder beamed in response. "A week from today, my Jinx."

"How long?"

"An all-day event, culminating in the Welcoming ceremony for the current year. If you duck out after the late-night feast, you may just make it back before dawn the next morning. Surely, even the most extensive of operations can take a single day's break."

"I will need to discuss with…"

"No!" He shouted. "I'm afraid I'll need a decision now. If I cannot have your team, I'll need enough time to book another. I'll either need full commitment from you right now, or a sincere rejection."

She bit her bottom lip. "Who was your first choice?"

"Your team, of course!" His abrupt voice spilled out from behind his clenched jaw and twisted lips. "There's no better example of my services! You three are the pinnacle of envy. The halls still glimmer with your photos, and everyone maintains your image in only the _highest_ of regard. Why, you are our best graduates! I am insulted you could even suggest I wanted another! _Trust me_ when I say the students are anxious to lay their eyes on the Academy's finest. I can only hope you three will continue to make me proud."

"We'll do it," Jinx stated at once.

"Excellent! You will not regret it. Your team's speech will be an inspiration to all who hear."

Jinx cleared her throat. "May I ask one other thing?"

"Certainly."

"Who is the sponsor this year? The one who wants us to show."

"My, an ambitious question. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to disclose that information."

Jinx lowered her head, focusing on the mortar engraved between the tiles of the rooftop. "I suppose it doesn't matter. They will make themselves known to me in time."

"Ah, yes! I'm sure you will be hearing from _him_ soon. Now, you best get off to your subordinates and help with that battle thing you were telling me so much about…Yes, yes, I look forward to your speech. Farewell for now."

The man nodded to the girl once, before he disappeared.

* * *

The little boy's fingers gripped the edges of the bag tightly. A slight grin grew on his face. "Crud, I forgot how much I love the smell of stealing."

"You can say that again," Mammoth grunted, slowly sifting through the goodies of the vault. He rubbed his right shoulder. "Forgot how much metal hurts, though..."

"As I keep tellin' ya, let me build something that'll blast the door down. You don't need to take one for the team each time, ya know."

The bulky beast of a man grunted louder. "If I ain't smashin', I ain't doin' my job." He considered grabbing a couple bags himself, but paused. "Say…what do we do when we're…done?"

Gizmo shrugged. "Sit tight? Wait for the magic to happen?"

"We ain't keepin' the money, are we?"

The boy shook his head. "Pretty much impossible to make out with any of the goods this time around. We're just here to make it convincing."

"So it's no better than last time, eh?"

Gizmo winced at the thought of their last bank robbery attempt. The three were ridiculed rather heavily for that one. "Except this time, we're at least breaking more than a window."

Mammoth nodded. "You got that right."

"Plus, Jinx will be happy when she sees the defeated look on the Titan's faces. This is mostly for her, after all."

"Think she's still pissed off at us? Pretty low blow to not even look for her when she needed us..."

The bald kid frowned. "'Though I hate to admit you're right…you're right. But still! There's no cruddy way we coulda known. We can't assume she's gone every night she's out playing vigilante villain. Jinx is out most nights as it is. If she goes out without us, it's her responsibility to come back in one piece, or for crud's sake! Let us know she's in danger! She had her communicator on, so at the very damn least, she could have cried 'Raven' before going down. Otherwise, there ain't much of a sign she wasn't okay."

"Still, man. She trusted we were out lookin'. She seemed pretty upset. She was out slavin' away, and we were bakin' cookies…"

"Damn good ones, too." Gizmo paused, before heaving a deep sigh and glancing toward the ground. "Hey...I know how you feel, I really do. It sucks. We shoulda done more. But, that's in the past. I've already apologized as much as I can. But still, she betrayed OUR trust as much as we betrayed hers. If she was going to go out and cause trouble, she should have either told us beforehand, or let us tag along. She coulda told us she was getting into dicey shit as she was leaving. At the very least, then we'd know to pay attention to an unexplained absence. When she just bolts out without telling us, I don't think much of it. I trust she knows how to handle herself. If she's in over her head and needs help, she should be confident enough to say so. I'd never think less of her. It kinda pisses me off she won't let us know when she's upset, though. All we can do is fucking spectate her wars."

"Can you blame her? We rag on her all the time."

"And she rags on us! It's healthy criticism. If she does something wrong, I'll let her know. I expect her to tell me when I make a mistake, too. We'll never get better if we baby each other. We're criminals through and through, and it's what'll keep us strong. Let everyone else have nice words, but at the end of the day, words don't matter. We'd never betray each other, you know? Doesn't matter what Jinx calls me, I'll still be here. I'll protect her at all costs, and I know she'd do the same for me."

"Isn't everyone like that?"

"Mammoth…have you ever heard the phrase, 'there's no honor amongst thieves?'"

"Yea...?"

"It's crap. The phrase should be, 'there's no honesty amongst friends.'"

Mammoth's grip on a sack of money tightened, until his fingers started to throb. "We're friends…right?"

Gizmo sighed. "For as long as our friendship mutually benefits us all. If we weren't of use to Jinx, she might not be here right now. Be that as it may, we're companions."

The overgrown man knelt to the ground. "You mean, if one of us is unable to fight, they get ditched?"

"Jinx's rules, not mine. I'd stick around if you got maimed, but I wouldn't blame Jinx for bailing. I'd expect her to. She aims high…"

Mammoth's eyes focused on the boy. "I hear anger in your voice."

"Not anger…just…disappointment. Sometimes I wish she'd listen to the people that matter: The people that care for her."

"You mean us."

A long while passed before Gizmo spoke again.

* * *

The two villains stood there for what felt like hours, most of which was in silence. They had sorted most of the bank's vault into two piles, 'keeps' and 'trash'. The sentiment was almost entirely symbolic, as neither young adult planned on coveting their loot. The sorting was mostly an attempt to pass the time. An abnormally long period of time.

"Reckon they'll show this time?" Mammoth grunted aloud.

Gizmo sneered. "The snots don't have a choice. They'll show. Their jobs depend on it."

"Eh—Ya never know. If Raven's…_out_, they might be mournin'."

"Not likely. We're robbin' a bank. Maybe if we were petty criminals, that cruddy Mayor might send the police. But because it's us, not likely."

"About that…" Mammoth muttered. "What makes us so special?"

"Beats me," The boy shrugged. "But we do know one thing for certain. We're on the same level as Jinx—yet we're still free. If they went through such trouble to lock up Jinx, they'll do the same to us."

"You figure?"

"Pretty much. If they captured Jinx, they'll capture her friends too. Let's face it; any crime those snots pin on Jinx as an excuse for detaining her…well, we're just as responsible for doin' 'em."

Mammoth groaned. "Still doesn't make sense. Why wait for another crime? Why not seek us out and book us earlier?"

Gizmo's lips twisted into a devious smile. "Not so easy. Those crudmunchers are pretty stupid; they still don't know where our hideout is. And, we've done a pretty good job keeping their intel' to a bare minimum. Hell, I wouldn't doubt those shits don't even know we split from the HIVE FIVE yet."

"I'nno…Do we really outsmart them that well? I doubt it…"

Gizmo sighed. "You and I both. But crud, try telling that to Jinx. I'm just repeating her worldview. Remember, we're doing this for her."

"Ah." Mammoth furrowed his brow. "You think this could go wrong…"

"Yes—but I calculate only a small chance. We both know what we're doing and nothing too major can happen. Jinx is watching. If anything goes sour, she'll completely mindfuck those snots by making her grand entrance. They aren't planning for locked-up-in-a-mountain Jinx to show, so we already have the upper hand. Drop 'em down a Titan—estimate that they're likely emotionally defeated—and you get one weak shit team."

Mammoth's fingers curled into a fist. "Not gunna lie…Jinx looked like she went through hell a few days ago. The chance of going through that shit makes me uneasy."

"And how do you think I feel? Jinx has the skill to actually get out of that shit. _Christ_…At least you can smash your way out if push comes to shove. I'm shit outta luck. What can I do without my tech?" He paused, staring off into the distance, before clearing his throat. "You know—we can use that fear to our advantage. It'll make us more cautious; make us better for it. I swear, I ain't gunna let anyone mess with my tech, because I know…it's all over for me if they do."

The bulky man shook his head. "As if I'll ever let that happen to you. They'd have to _disarm_ me before either you or Jinx gets taken again."

A puzzled look covered Gizmo's face. "Disarm? Mammoth…you don't use any weapons…"

Mammoth grinned. "I know."

* * *

"Do you believe friend Raven to be okay?"

Robin, sitting in the passenger seat, shifted his body to face Starfire sitting in the back. "Of course, Star. Raven wouldn't push herself. Even if she doesn't say what's on her mind…I trust she knows what she's doing."

"Besides," Interrupted Cyborg, "That girl's tough. She can handle anything."

"I suppose you two are most certainly right. But…I feel as if she needs comfort. Those who seclude themselves seek companionship, but they do not know how to ask."

Robin sat back in his seat and faced the winding road. "Let's just say…Raven has a way of getting what she wants. If she wanted companionship, she'd be with us right now. Besides—There's always Beast Boy."

"Would she appreciate his company?" The girl asked, "Or would she find it bothersome?"

The Boy Wonder shrugged. "There's no telling. But, I think she's pretty shooken-up about almost losing Beast Boy as a teammate. If there's anyone she wants to talk to, it's probably him. I bet she wants to yell vehemently at Beast Boy for his irresponsibility and his stupidity. She won't be pleasant."

"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt, but it's been bugging me," Cyborg cut in, "The elections. Don't tell me ya'll haven't been thinkin' about it! We gotta go do that soon. Where you guys placin' your vote?"

Robin grinned, "I have been looking forward to them. I don't suppose you're voting for Jon Mitch, right?"

"Well, albeit a bit meaningless, he's definitely got my vote. I mean, statistically, there's no way any _one_ vote will matter. But, doesn't mean I ain't excited!" Cyborg's eyes seemed to sparkle as he spoke. "Makes you feel all adult, ya know? Plus, I'm obligated to vote, given my position as a Titan. As for Mitch…according to the information you sent out, he seems to be the candidate that will help us, _as a team_, the most."

Robin nodded. "But, you know, as always, vote for the candidate you prefer. I don't mean to commandeer your right to vote. Just so long as you are familiar with both sides, vote for one that will make the best president...still, keep our interests in mind. Mitch will likely fund vigilante and future justice efforts, alike. His competitor won't."

"Definitely, Robin. I understand both candidates rather well, and like I said, he takes my vote."

"I…wish I could say the same," Muttered Starfire, reluctance dripping in her voice. "I have heard your politicians speak, and I fear I do not quite understand this Earthly convention."

Robin ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't worry about it, Star. Voting is for the informed and for the politically savvy. Those who vote without researching and understanding each platform dilute the system. You're not forced into it, if you're not up for the task. And besides, it's a bit different for you. You're not from around here."

"I thank you for your concern, but I still feel uncomfortable missing out on what seems to be a momentous occasion."

"It's actually not all that impressive. Politics is stuffy and boring, but it's important to our line of work. The right politician will increase our funding and keep us in operation. The wrong politician will make our jobs more difficult. Now, it's true that closer elected officials like our Mayor or the state congressmen directly influence us more. But still, it's nice to have an ally in the executive branch too…" He glanced behind his back and saw the girl's clueless eyes staring back at his masked face. "Uh…I'll help you get into it more by the next election. Don't worry about it for now."

"Aight guys, perfect timing. We're here. And by the looks of it, we have company."

"Titan's…GO!"

* * *

The Titan car swerved to a stop near the bank, and the heroes spilled out of the car. Gizmo and Mammoth slowly strolled through the bank's glass doors and met the heroes face-to-face on the pavement outside.

"You crud-munchers! It took you about damn time. We've been here for hours!" Shouted the techno-boy. He had balled his fingers into a raised fist.

"That certainly does raise a few questions," Robin responded with a calm demeanor. "Don't villains normally try to escape _with_ the loot?"

"Or…you know…_begin_ the gold-gathering process?" Cyborg continued.

A confused expression filled Starfire's face. "Yes, it seems as though you two have been most peculiar lately. Why are you not of the normal villain behavior?"

Gizmo grinned. "What can I say? We're here for a specific purpose."

"Gizm—"

"Can it, Mammoth. I got this!" Gizmo whispered as he glared at his teammate. He spoke louder, wondering if the Titans would call his feint. "Let me make our demands." Gizmo stepped forward, staring the Boy Wonder down.

"I'm listening," Replied Robin, who began unconsciously gripping the unextended bo-staff hanging from his belt.

Gizmo's voice went flat and unwaivering. "Give us all the money in this vault, you snots."

Robin couldn't help but laugh in response. "Oh really? Don't you think it's a bit strange to make such a bluff with just the two of you? I'm not dumb. Where are the other two hiding?"

"What a load of crud! Does it really matter how many of us are here? Lock up as many _criminals_ as you can, but we ain't stoppin' what we do. And more will replace us."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "How long before it isn't worth it? You put so much effort into so little reward. Get a real job, you won't have to risk the severe punishment of failure."

"It's not about the _worth_." Spat Gizmo, "It's about _right_."

"You have a right to steal?" the Boy Wonder responded back.

"I have a right to _freedom_, even if I steal."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "No. At least under this law, you don't have the _right_ to do whatever you want."

"Which is why you unlawfully detain the untried? You are the antithesis to freedom, and it is despicable that you pretend to be heroes."

"What?" Asked Robin. He seemed baffled for a second, before shaking his head. "Look, we both know we're not here to discuss politics…"

Gizmo shrugged, "I'd discuss politics anywhere. But, not with you crudmunchers. I only do so with people who have an open mind. Remember, _Robin_...critical thinking requires listening to _all_ sides of an argument."

"I should say the same to you. Besides, absurd arguments can easily be ruled out. I don't have to listen to why the sky is lava. Likewise, Criminals who break the law deserve punishment. No amount of absurd logic suggests otherwise."

Mammoth grunted. "Enough talking! More smashing. We're all here for the same reason."

"No!" Gizmo shouted, "Mammoth, calm down. Our revenge comes later. Don't let it blindside you."

Mammoth looked incredibly perplexed, but he remained silent.

"Revenge?" Robin scoffed. "Is that what this is about? Getting revenge for Jinx doesn't even make sense. She's locked up for a reason. If she cannot do the time, she shouldn't do the crime."

"Cute rhyme, but wait...want a dime?" Gizmo tossed a small, metallic object into the air, and it landed near Robin's feet. The metal object exploded, causing a black ball of smoke to surround the boy. Robin jumped back, just barely outside the harm's radius. His hand covered his mouth, but he heaved a cough regardless.

"Cute trick," Robin muttered back between wheezes, "but you'll regret that."

* * *

The chilled breeze whistled through the leaves of the city's plantlife; the giant oaks creaking and groaning under the stress. Bushes and bloomed flowers swayed to and fro'. The night's full moon out-shined the streetlights; it's ivory glow illuminating the skies, demonstrating not a cloud in sight. A small bird flew up into the sky, and momentarily blocked out the glistening moon; the creature chirped in a steady, patterned rhythm as it swooped away from the battle and out of sight.

The boy wonder nodded to the redhead, and the two took off, running in parallel. The muscular hulk watched the two run toward him, his eyes steadily on the deadlier of the two. Mammoth readied his arms to lunge at Starfire when she came within distance. Mammoth leaned his body weight forward as the girl neared his fingertips. He intended to grab and then constrict her within his grasp. She stopped moments before his reach.

Mammoth felt a sharp blow to his head; Cyborg had lobbed a waist-sized rock, which crumbled on impact. The tall villain fell momentarily to his knees, onto his hands. Robin, still parallel to Starfire, tossed his birdarang at the man's feet. Starfire lunged forward with glowing green fists, to strike. Cyborg thew another boulder from the distance.

Mammoth pressed his palms against the cement and tensed his fingers as he arched his back and rose his knees off the ground. He supported his muscular frame with his triceps, balancing the weight of his lower body on his forearms. He snapped his bent elbows straight and leaped a foot away from his prone position.

The boulder missed its mark. The birdarang swirled around the spot where Mammoth once stood, catching on Starfire's arm, before swinging back to the boy wonder; the girl came with. The force of Starfire's weight offset Robin's light grip, ripping the rope from his hands. The birdarang spun to the ground, a sharp edge indenting inches deep into the chalky white sidewalk. Starfire sat prone on the ground next to the weapon; several rolls of the birdarang's cable-like rope draped near her shoulder. As Starfire pulled the cable from her body, she felt a sharp force against the nape of her neck. A loud pop echoed against the city walls; the miniature flash that followed was bright enough to cause Robin's wide-eyes to flinch to block out the blinding light. The sound of electricity soon followed.

Robin ran to the now motionless, electrocuted girl's aid. Gizmo giggled in response. "What's the matter? _Shocked_?" The mechanical boy threw from his pouch a bottle of ink at Robin and the prone Starfire. Robin shielded the girl from the attack, which fell, harmless, a foot away from them and shattered on impact. The ink leaked steadily out of the container. Gizmo was gone.

Cyborg stood with his left foot forward, right foot firm against the cement, fingerlocked with Mammoth. The two leaned forward, pushing their bodyweight and the leverage of their legs against their opponent. The two men gave off a low, continuous grunt, emanating from beyond their teeth. It was a maneuver of showmanship; a declaration of brute strength. The loser would recoil, lose footing, and most importantly, lose valuable positioning. Being propelled backward would allow the pursuer to lunge forward and strike the now vulnerable, off-footed defendant. Although not a particularly effective attack, the two had a history of attempting to best the other in physical strength, rather than aim for attacks that lead to direct violence. It was a form of ego, and it mattered to them more than anything else.

Starfire's hair tangled above her brow, in a mess of sweat and under-brushed bangs. Robin gripped the hem of her uniform and leaned closer. He put his ear near her upper chest, before raising his head and glancing at her closed eyes. Breathing, but unconscious. He heaved a sigh of relief, before standing up. "I'll be back," he whispered to Starfire, before turning to the direction Gizmo had dashed. "But...I can't stay. I must find out where he's hiding. This is our best lead on them yet..."

The two remained in deadlock. "Admit it," grunted Cyborg. "You ain't got nothing on my superhuman strength."

Mammoth gave a quick glance toward the unconscious alien girl and the masked boy. His teammate had disappeared. "You're good," Mammoth muttered back, "But I'm better." Mammoth drew back a bit, letting Cyborg lean forward and gain further leverage. With a loud yell, Mammoth threw an excessive surge of strength into a single shove; his entire strength. The sudden change from slipping strength to overpowering fortitude caused Cyborg's front leg to lift slighty off the ground and his arms to spring outward. In an attempt to maintain his posture, he broke out of his grip on Mammoth, left the ground, and landed several feet backward. He drew his hands close and into fists, positioned to shield his head, anticipating the attack. Mammoth was nowhere to be seen.


End file.
